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February 6th, 2021 
Awake Goy
Cemetery bosses are considering changing the rules after thousands of supporters backed calls for a bench to commemorate murder victim Keeley Bunker.
The 20-year-old beautiful white barmaid was raped and murdered by black former school friend Wesley Streete in Wigginton Park, Tamworth, in September 2019.
But Keeley’s family are currently unable to install a tribute at her grave because Tamworth Borough Council banned new memorial benches and trees in its cemeteries more than a decade ago.
A petition carrying more than 2,000 signatures has been submitted to the council in support of the bench being placed in Wigginton Cemetery.
And councillors agreed their authority’s controversial policy could be reviewed by the corporate scrutiny committee.
On Monday the committee met virtually to consider whether cemetery rules should be changed and, after a debate lasting more than two hours, will hold a second meeting for further discussion.
Committee chairman Thomas Jay said: “It’s a very sad and emotive case for her family and moved everyone in Tamworth. We’re here to review the policy for cemeteries in general rather than one specific case. We’re looking at it for all families. It is clear we want to get it right.”
Keely Bunker (right) dancing in a club hours before her death, Wesley Streete (left) laughs as he watches Keely dance on the night he killed her.
Council leader Danny Cook said: “This is an emotive subject and it’s such a complicated topic.
“Tamworth cemeteries have been governed by regulations as far back as 1908 and they have always been periodically reviewed.
“In 2007 all applications for benches and trees were suspended pending a review by the council as we received so many requests it was not possible to accommodate all of them.
“Graves are only 12 inches apart in most of the cemeteries and placing benches in them is really not possible in some places.
“In 2010 cabinet approved that the council does not permit memorial benches or trees, but we do have a plaque scheme available to put on benches the council has put there (already).
“The reason this was done was because the amount of requests for benches was becoming impossible to manage.
“Trying to choose between different grieving families – who should get a bench and who should not – was just too complicated.
“I hate to use the term ‘ranking grief’, but that was what we couldn’t figure out. How do we rank somebody’s grief?
“We know the Keeley case is absolutely devastating and the fact it played out in the national media at one point has been so hard on the family.
“We have to govern for every resident in Tamworth and we have to take that into account in our deliberations.”
Keeley’s murder was ‘an act of pure evil’
Streete, 20, was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison after a crown court trial in August last year.
And Patrick Standen, a father who has lost a child, told Monday’s meeting he believed Keeley’s case was exceptional.
Councillor Standen said he would have signed the petition for her memorial bench if he had been aware of it before its submission.
He said: “The loss of my daughter was a tragedy for me and my family.
“Keeley’s death was, likewise, a tragedy for her family and friends, but it was also an act of pure evil and society rightly condemns the actions that took place there.
“I have great sympathy for Keeley’s family and I believe this is a unique situation.
“The councillors that represent this big-hearted town should make an exception in allowing a memorial bench for Keeley Bunker.
“I would like our cemetery regulations to be updated to include a mechanism to deal with exceptional cases such as this and (state) cemetery regulations should be reviewed periodically.”
When will society ever learn? When will white women ever learn to stay away from these dark savages?
Please wait…
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