Council gravediggers put the coffin in the wrong plot

Norah Dunbar, who died aged 79 in April, was buried at Quantock cemetery, in Bridgwater, Somerset, on May 1.

She had wanted to be interred in the same grave as her husband and son.

But a week after the funeral, Mrs Dunbar's daughter discovered council gravediggers had buried her mother in the wrong plot.

Frances Izard, 41, also from Bridgwater, said it was an "unbelievable mistake".

"It was my mum's express wish that she would be buried in the same plot with my dad, who died in 1994, and my brother Michael, who died in 1963, aged 13, from a hole-in-the-heart," she said.

"My parents had bought a plot that would fit three coffins.

Full investigation

"On the day of the funeral, we showed the gravediggers which plot to dig up, but I later realised they had dug up the one next to it and put my mum in there."

Mrs Izard contacted Sedgemoor District Council about the mistake, which has apologised, but has been told by the Home Office that the body cannot yet be exhumed.

She said: "They want signatures from all her next of kin but one of our sisters is away on holiday, so we have to wait for her to come back.

"We just want everything put right as soon as possible, but there's nothing we can do at the moment.

"With my mum dying, it's been such a stressful time, and this has just made it all worse."

A spokesman for Sedgemoor District Council said: "We have of course apologised to Mrs Dunbar's family for this mistake and a full internal investigation is underway."