"I WOULD like to say to Ron and his family how truly sorry I am and I hope they will accept my sincerest apologies."
Those were the words of grave trasher Claire Burke who said she deeply regrets her cruel actions.
The 79-year-old, from Abbeydale, replaced fresh flowers with dead ones and poured gravel on the grave of Jill Wilks and her granddaughter Hayley Reynolds at Coney Hill cemetery.
The sickening act was caught on CCTV in February when Jill's widower Ron, 77, spent £150 on a surveillance camera to catch her red-handed.
But now great-grandmother Burke has made an apology to Ron, claiming that although she has made a mistake, she is a good person.
"I hold my hands up, I lost the plot," said Burke who has six children, 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
"I know I did wrong and I expect to be punished. I made a mistake but I am not a bad person."
She said she had no idea little Hayley was buried there too.
Burke claims her actions were the result of a feud between her and Ron's current partner Doreen Royals, and that she was trying to get at Doreen.
"I have no problem with Ron whatsoever, I have known him for 50 years, he is a nice man," added Burke, who says she only attacked the grave twice.
"With the benefit of hindsight I shouldn't have done it."
Burke appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on Friday and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and a two-year restraining order prohibiting her from contacting Ron or his fiancee Doreen and from visiting the graves.
Mr Wilks, though, said he will find it difficult to forgive Burke for what she did.
He said: "I understand she is sorry and I am not the type of person to hold grudges, but I can't forgive her. What she did is unimaginable.
"I have received hundreds of messages of support from all over the globe."
