The remains of a couple who were interred in 2012 have had to be exhumed and reburied after a church in Liverpool double-booked the burial plot.
The cremated remains of David and Sheila Shaw were buried together at Sefton Parish Church despite the fact that the plot had been reserved in 1977 by the family of George Bancroft who was buried alongside them in 1977.
The plot hadn’t been marked and the church hadn’t realised it had already been reserved.
The mistake came to light after Mr Bancroft’s daughter Marilyn who is terminally ill, asked to be laid to rest alongside her father.
A consistory court for the Diocese of Liverpool heard that when told about the mistake and that the church planned to excavate the grave, Shaw’s daughters, Carol Smith and Julie Tyghe, were “extremely unhappy”. The Diocese Chancellor Mr Justice Graham Wood said they had also been assured by the vicar that no steps had been taken to interfere with the grave, despite part of the surface being "disturbed and the grave partially dug up." He said there was evidence that a grave digger had taken steps to identify the precise location of the caskets.
Dismissing a suggestion that the three should be buried together, Mr Justice Wood said: “The error here, which on any interpretation is egregious, should not be allowed to visit a disadvantage on the family which acquired the grave almost 50 years ago in the expectation that they would be able to use the space for subsequent family burials.”
Sefton Parish Church has apologised and confirmed that the Shaws have now been reburied. A spokesman said: “This was caused through improper administration of the graveyard in the past. We have learnt from this and put new systems in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“We are deeply sorry for this and the upset that this caused. We have worked with all the relevant authorities to sort this matter out as sensitively as possible. This has involved the proper exhumation and reburial of their remains in the graveyard.
“We know this has been painful for all involved but Mr and Mrs Shaw’s remains have been carefully reburied in a permanent plot where the family can visit their loved ones in peace.”