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10
Feb 2022
A Harrogate woman has spoken of her distress when a visit to her five-year-old daughter's grave was interrupted by a dog let off its lead to defecate among the headstones.
Joanne Bolton's daughter Charlotte died of meningitis 25 years ago and is buried in Grove Road cemetery. Ms Bolton's mother is also buried there.
She was visiting on Sunday when a woman entered the cemetery, closed the gates and let her dog off its lead to exercise. The large cemetery is surrounded by a wall so dogs are unable to escape when the gates are closed.
The dog owner then sat on the bench and let her Terrier defecate freely around the cemetery, which includes the graves of 37 former soldiers. Ms Bolton said:
Grove Road cemetery
Guide dogs are the only dogs permitted in Harrogate Borough Council cemeteries.
Ms Bolton, who owns a dog herself, said she would have no problem with people walking their pets on leads around the perimeter path but said it was completely unacceptable to allow animals to roam freely.
But one woman said the presence of dogs and dog walkers had deterred drug dealers from using the site.
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