Mum's sadness after son's memorial flag taken

A mother has appealed for help after a flag in memory of her son who died from a terminal illness went missing.

Pixi Stovell said the black pirate flag was gifted to her by a friend and raised outside their house following the death of her 11-year-old son Kori, who was born with a heart condition.

She said the flag had become a source of "real comfort" since then, but two days ago she discovered it had disappeared from her home in Ripley, Derbyshire.

"I just cried," Ms Stovell said. "The pole was all bent out of shape, so it's been basically ripped off of its base, and it's been taken."

Ms Stovell said the flag looked "beautiful" and she would look at it every night and say goodnight to her son.

Prior to his death in July 2023, Kori had run a YouTube channel that attracted more than 200,000 subscribers.

He had two failed heart transplants before Kori along with his family and medical teams made the decision to not face the ordeal of a third heart transplant.

In December 2022 Johnny Depp sent him a video message in character as Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series, in which he described himself as Kori's "number one fan".

Ms Stovell said: "We do think that someone's actually climbed up on to the wall and actually snapped the pole off.

"A lot of the neighbours have looked on the little doorbell cameras and no-one's seen anything."

She said people had offered to donate flags and poles, but she plans to replace it.

"It's just the fact it was so sentimental and it meant such a lot to us," Ms Stovell added.

"I really would like the original back.

"It's probably people messing around and not actually realising how much it actually meant to us."

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