AN ENTIRE bed and mattress was torched by arsonists after being dumped in a skip outside a cemetery.

Wendy Owens, clerk of Rhos Community Council, is calling on members of the public not to abandon their rubbish in the receptacle at Rhos Cemetery on Stryt Las.

She says residents in the village will ultimately bear the burden of cost to have it emptied as it is the responsibility of the community council, and added any items dumped could cause a potential fire hazard.

On Saturday July 31 fire crews were called to extinguish flames after a bed and mattress, abandoned in the skip the previous day, was set alight.

Ms Owens said: “Obviously the more rubbish dumped in the skips means they have to be emptied more often, which costs the community council.

“With the bed it was there on Friday morning and we organised to have it emptied on Monday, the earliest it could be done.

“On Saturday evening it was set alight. It was fortunate that someone spotted it and called the fire service because there is a workmans’ cabin next door with electrics. It could have been much worse if it had spread.”

Ms Owens said the community council had considered installing CCTV cameras at the site but were reluctant to do so because of the cost and that it might intrude on the privacy of members of public visiting the cemetery.

She said: “It is an ongoing problem. We had a fridge that cost more money to get rid of because it was white goods. We need to make people  aware it is costing them to have this skip emptied.”

A spokeswoman for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service confirmed a crew from Wrexham had attended an incident at the cemetery at 12.45am on Sunday. She also confirmed the blaze had been started deliberately.