THE father of an inspirational Hampshire DJ has begged vandals to leave his son's grave alone so he can "finally rest in peace".

Known to many as DJ Blue, Errol Matthews raised thousands of pounds for charity before his death in 2007 at the age of 22.

After burying his son at St Mary Extra Cemetery, in Sholing, Errol's father John Matthews found vandals had scratched his son's headstone, stole items from the side of it and displaced the headstone, making it lean and wobble.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Errol's death, John and his family have paid £4,000 for a new headstone to be made and put in place but have already received threats on social networking sites from vandals who have suggested they will damage the new one.

Although part of the new headstone was put in place on Errol's birthday, earlier this month, it is not finished and the family have been left too afraid to continue the work.

"How could someone go into God's garden and destroy something that doesn't belong to them?" asked the father-of-three.

"It will be 10 years since Errol's death next month and he would be devastated to know that this is how people are acting."

Errol who lived in St Denys, was born with pulmonary atresia – a terminal condition that affects the artery taking blood to the lungs.

Doctors did not expect Errol to live beyond his sixth birthday he defied expectations to live into his 20s.

Errol earned the name DJ Blue because his poor circulation made his lips turn blue.

His step-mother Julie Matthews arranged through Make-A-Wish Foundation for Errol to have thousands of pounds worth of sound equipment which allowed him to host charity events for Wessex Heartbeat and Naomi House children's hospice.

"He loved to do events for charity and his family. Music really was his passion, it gave him purpose," said Julie.

This week the pair will also be donating Errol's signed Arsenal T-shirt to Naomi House - where he received respite care as a child.

"Errol got on so well with my family and we have so many fond family memories together - like on the Boxing Day before he passed away - he was a right comedian and so like his dad even at that age he loved his cuddles with his father.

"He always made our family events special, he did the music at my 50th birthday party and my mum's 80th, six months before he passed away. I still can't believe he isn't here with us - it is just not the same without him."

John, who says the stress caused by vandals is affecting his health, added: "We just hope that whoever is damaging the headstone will stop and allow Errol to rest in peace.

"He wouldn't have wanted any fighting."

John also said that he was so upset about the damage, that he could not visit the grave, which led to it becoming unkept and untidy in appearance.

The cemetery is run by Southampton City Council and a spokesperson for the authority told the Echo: "While it is not always possible to prevent vandalism in our cemeteries we sympathise with people who have to witness their loved one's memorial desecrated.

"We do all we can to act on reports of vandalism in our cemeteries and encourage people to contact the police if they suspect criminal damage is taking place."

Hampshire Constabulary confirmed they received an initial report about the first headstone being damaged and urged anyone who had any information to do with Errol's or anyone else's grave to contact them on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.