Man Arrested, Charged with Theft of Flowers from Ozzy Osbourne Memorial

A man was arrested and charged with theft for stealing flowers from the Ozzy Osbourne memorial on Black Sabbath Bridge.

According to the BBC, West Midlands Police arrested Parviz Jafari, 45, on August 2 after authorities were notified of his activity. Jafari will appear before magistrates on September 3 for his theft charge.

Black Sabbath Bridge became a memorial spot following the death of Osbourne on July 22 at age 76. (As previously reported, Osbourne's cause of death was due to a heart attack.) Countless flowers and other tributes were left at Black Sabbath Bridge, which were collected by Central BID Birmingham, a local business organization. The group shared the video below showing workers gathering all of the items from Black Sabbath Bridge and from a nearby mural.

From there, all of the items were taken to a secret location to be sorted and recorded for a digital archive for the Osbourne family. All of the flowers were taken and turned into mulch to be used around where Ozzy was buried on the grounds of his Buckinghamshire estate.

Ozzy Osbourne was laid to rest on July 31 in a private ceremony. The Sun reported that The Prince of Darkness was buried next to a lake on his Buckinghamshire property.

Some of the biggest names in rock were among the 110 people who attended the ceremony. The Sun notes they included Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. Other rockers in attendance included Elton John, James Hetfield, Yungblud, Marilyn Manson, Zakk Wylde, and Corey Taylor.

The private funeral service came a day after the public procession through Birmingham, England. The procession route featured a stop at the Black Sabbath bench on the Black Sabbath bridge. As previously reported, the Osbournes exited the motorcade to view the many tributes to Ozzy on and around the bench.

Video from Sky News showed fans chanting "Ozzy! Ozzy!" as the hearse approached the bench. His casket was visible inside the hearse and was adorned with purple flowers spelling "Ozzy." Sharon Osbourne was escorted by her children to the bench to view the tributes left by fans.

The family left their own flowers wrapped in black paper at the Black Sabbath bench. Before returning to the motorcade, Sharon and other family members flashed Ozzy's signature peace sign to the many fans that lined the street.