BBC NEWS | UK | England | Manchester | Ian Curtis memorial stone stolen Ian Curtis memorial stone stolen 
Ian Curtis's fame lives on years after his death
The gravestone of former Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis has been stolen from a Cheshire cemetery.
Curtis was 23 when he hanged himself in the kitchen of his Macclesfield home in May 1980, shortly before the band were due to go on tour in the US.
Cheshire Police said his memorial stone was taken from where he is buried in Macclesfield Cemetery.
Officers are appealing for anyone with information on its whereabouts to contact them.
Detectives said the stone, which has the inscription "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was taken sometime between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.
A police spokesman said: "There is no CCTV in the area and there are no apparent leads as to who is responsible for the theft.
"This is a very unusual theft and I am confident that someone locally will have knowledge about who is responsible or where the memorial stone is at present."
Although the band reformed into New Order after Curtis's death in 1980, there has been an upsurge of interest in its work. An acclaimed biopic about Curtis, called Control, was released in 2007 and a film documentary, called simply Joy Division, was released earlier this year.
Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis' gravestone stolen 
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