Police have painstakingly pieced together memorial plaques stolen from graves in an effort to return them to their owners.

Officers from Selsdon & Ballard, Sanderstead and Selhurst Safer Neighbourhood teams believe cut up pieces of metal recovered from a scrap metal dealer two weeks ago could make up about 300 plaques.

Around 50 plaques have been pieced together so far and officers believe the plaques may have been taken from cemeteries in Beckenham, Putney and Tonbridge.

About 150 of the plaques taken following the raid, on May 14, were still in tact and some have been traced to Beckenham cemetery.

Sergeant Georges Shannon, who was responsible for organising the raid on the scrap metal yard in Croydon, said: “The theft of metal has an enormous impact on the economy, but when you’re talking about memorial plaques from cemeteries then it also has a huge emotional impact on the victims as well.

“These are memorials to loved-ones who have passed away and their theft only adds to people’s grief.

"That’s why we’re doing all we can to work out where these plaques have come from to hopefully return them and give those affected some peace of mind.”