Somewhere in Cheshire is a seriously melancholy thief. The gravestone of Ian Curtis has been stolen from the Macclesfield cemetery where the former Joy Division singer is buried.

The not-quite-graverobber made off with the memorial some time between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Police are appealing for anyone with information on its whereabouts to come forward.

Curtis committed suicide in May 1980, hanging himself in his kitchen just before Joy Division were due to tour the United States. He was 23.

His gravestone is inscribed "Ian Curtis, 18-5-80", with the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart".

"There is no CCTV in the area and there are no apparent leads as to who is responsible for the theft," a police spokesman said. "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."

There has been a resurgence of interest in the late singer after last year's Curtis biopic, Control, and a new Joy Division documentary that was released this spring. It remains to be seen whether the gravestone thief sought a movie memento, a poor-taste Cheshire souvenir or just a morbid piece of living-room furniture.

Hopefully, he's sitting in his flat somewhere, staring at the engraved stone, feeling an abject gloom over what he's done.