Alan Ford: Father calls those who destroyed his son’s memorial cross ‘gutless wonders’, police hunt offenders

A heartbroken father has slammed the “gutless wonders” who destroyed his son’s memorial cross as police continue to search for the vandals. The Ford family is devastated their son Alan’s memorial cross was ripped from the ground and a shrine of flowers ruined, three months after he died in a crash on October 3. The 26-year-old veered off Kojonup-Katanning Road and was flung 10m from his vehicle. He hit a tree and was killed. Alan’s father Gavin Ford said he was in disbelief on December 30 when he saw the memorial had been destroyed. “It was so disheartening, my heart sank and I can’t believe it’s been done,” Mr Ford said. “The cross was pulled from the ground and I had used two bags of 20kg cement, so that would’ve taken a bit of force to get out. “They threw it behind the tree with one of the Emu Export cans we had beside it and uprooted the flowers. “You’d have to be a gutless wonder and coward to do this.” Mr Ford said he had almost finished his son’s blue-and-yellow flower shrine that was decorated in the colours of the West Coast Eagles. “I go out to the crash site every weekend to sit on the tree that killed him and reflect on his life and put a blue-and-yellow flower down,” Mr Ford said. “I was only just accepting that my boy was gone. “All I had to do was put one more flower and it would have been done. “To destroy a person’s last resting place, well, when you’re stooping that low it says a lot about you; that’s what cowards do.” Mr Ford suspects the incident happened on the night of December 29 as he had visited the site earlier that day and the damage was discovered at 10am the following morning. Katanning police ask people with information about the incident to contact them on 9821 3800 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.