Teen slammed for ‘stealing’ cobblestone as ‘souvenir’ from historic cathedral

A teenage influencer has been slammed by critics on social media after she posted a video of herself taking a historic cobblestone from outside Canterbury Cathedral as a "souvenir."

The US tourist, Arorio Art, was visiting the 1,400-year-old cathedral in Canterbury, Kent – where martyr Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170.

A clip from her trip, which was posted last month, shows the social media star removing a loose cobblestone from the cathedral's famous Christchurch gate, with crowds milling around nearby.

READ MORE: Bloke 'kidnapped' wild platypus and took it on the train before bizarre shopping trip

The video, which gained more than 4.3 million views, was captioned: "Souvenir acquired."

But the user insisted that she put it back and that the clip was shared as a joke on the video-sharing app TikTok.

However, the user later posted another video where she said she had been contacted by a local who found the empty space where the stone was, following her prank.

Now, Arorio is begging for whoever took it to do the right thing and put it back.

She said: "Hey everyone I just want to have a quick talk. I did not pick up that rock. I put that rock back. I picked it up for the purpose of the video.

"I thought it would be a little bit funny and then I put it back, which I shouldn't have done and I'm sorry for that.

"Some random person went and found my phone number from my Instagram and sent me a picture of the rock that's missing.

"That was not me. I don't know why the rock is gone, but if you have it, please put it back. I did not expect that video to get nearly as much attention as it did.

"I definitely didn't think it would put the idea into other people's heads to take the rock.

"Even putting aside that these cobblestones are really really old and have a lot of history behind them….someone's going to have to fill in the hole.

"They are going to have to take time out of their day to go fill in the hole, so please if you have the cobblestone, put it back."

A Kent County Council spokesperson said: "Causing damage to the highway is an offence, with a maximum penalty of £1,000, and costs KCC money to rectify.

"We would urge people not to damage roads or pavements in this way."

To get more stories from Daily Star delivered straight to your inbox sign up to one of our free newsletters
here.

READ NEXT:

• Newlywed and brother killed after wife's ex gifts sound speaker rigged with explosives

• Woman dies in flat inferno and people 'jump from windows' as man arrested for murder

• Evil dad used electric cattle prod to 'discipline' his children, police claim

Source: Read Full Article