WATCH: Trashed memorial where two teenagers died is restored as loved ones confess: “We miss you so much.”
A teenager was previously sentenced for trashing the memorial
A trashed memorial at a crash scene where two teenagers died has been restored as loved ones confess: “We miss you so much.”
“Sickening” Ryan Edwards, 18, of Fox Close in Warsash, was given a community order for “sheer cruelty” when he kicked and trampled over a memorial where Mason Renhard, 17, of Eastleigh, and Damien Dean, 16, of Denmead, died in a crash on July 13 last year just before 3am.
A shocking video, recorded by Edwards, showed him obliterating the scene where the Hyundai i20, driven by Damien, collided with a tree off Corhampton Lane, Corhampton. It contained heartfelt letters and hundreds of pounds worth of flowers laid in tribute to the boys.
Edwards, who said he destroyed the memorial because was angry with Mason over an unrelated matter, was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and pay £350 compensation to each family for criminal damage.
Since being destroyed, the memorial has now been revived with flowers, sentimental items and messages placed at the site.
One read: “Mason and Damo. Forever in our hearts. We miss you so much.”
Another said: “Mason, we all miss you so much and are still not accepting you are no longer here. You were cruelly taken from us far too soon. Life is not the same without you and never will be.”
A third message referred to “young souls thriving for fun and adventure” with the teenagers to be “forever remembered in our minds and in our hearts”.
Mason’s family had said after the sentencing: “That memorial became the only place we could go to feel close to Mason – to talk to him, to cry for him, to try to make sense of a reality that will never make sense.
"Those flowers were the only way we had left to honour our child, and then Ryan took it upon himself to destroy them.
"He didn’t just damage a few items. He destroyed hundreds of pounds worth of memorial flowers and tributes – symbols of love, heartbreak and memory. He shattered the only fragile peace we had managed to build.
"We were already living every parent’s worst nightmare, and Ryan chose to make it worse. He made a conscious decision to add trauma to parents who were already broken.”