A POPPY wreath and cross to honour fallen soldiers on the repatriation route into Oxford has been ripped out of the ground and tossed into a hedge.

John Weston, of Latton Close, Southmoor, created the tribute by the A420 on Armistice Day 2010 as a mark of respect.

He said: “It is utterly disgusting. I feel very hurt. It makes me feel as if someone had done it to a grave.

“I keep that area nice and clean and I went up there this week and it was uprooted and thrown into the hedge which I thought was very disrespectful. I would just like people to leave it alone.

“The county council are aware of the site and haven’t got a problem with it. If anyone is going to remove it, I will when the soldiers no longer come through.”

Mr Weston, 69, visits the site – which is on the route used to repatriate soldiers to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital – on a weekly basis and believed the cross could only have been moved on purpose.

He said: “It’s too far for the wind to have blown it. I trim all the way around it for people to stand there safely if they want to. If the site was overgrown I could understand it but it is not.

The former Thames Water worker said: “I’ve never been in the Army, but I respect those guys. I feel sorry for their families. I lost my wife in November – I know how it feels to lose a loved one.”

He began visiting the site on the A420 after seeing a cortege of eight British soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan and decided to pay his respects.

Mr Weston is now joined by a group of up to eight people from around the county who pay their respects with him after seeing him by the side of the road. I appreciate them joining me. It makes me feel very proud and it shows that it is not just me who feels this way,” he added.

Mr Weston has not reported the incident to the police. “I didn’t think it was a matter for them,” he said.