Metal thieves take memorial to dead young people

RESIDENTS of a Co Laois town have called for the return of a monument dedicated to the memory of young people who died in tragic circumstances.

Residents of the scenic village of Castletown, Mountrath, Co Laois, awoke on Friday morning to discover the 3m-high bronze, copper and brass sculpture had been wrenched from its foundations on the banks of the River Nore.

The sculpture of a tree — broken off midsection to represent lives cut short — is thought to have been stolen for its scrap metal value.