Daughter devastated by mound of earth left on mother's grave in Keighley cemetery (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Daughter devastated by mound of earth left on mother's grave in Keighley cemetery

7:00am Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Miran Rahman

A woman visiting her mother’s grave said she was devastated to find it covered in a huge mound of earth.

The soil, dug up from a nearby newly excavated grave plot, had flattened the flowers which she and her family had planted on the grave.

Tracy Ingham’s husband, James, said Bradford Council could instead have placed the earth on an open patch of wasteland immediately next to the row of graves at Morton Cemetery, in Sandbeds, Keighley.

Mrs Ingham, 39, of Wilsden, whose mother Yvonne McManus died in October 2011 aged 62, condemned the Council’s grave management policies as “insensitive”.

The mother of two, who works as a night carer, visits her mother’s grave every other day.

She travelled to the plot by herself on Tuesday, which was when she first discovered the earth mound. “It was a total mess, it was heartbreaking – it really was,” she said.

“They could have made it easier by saying something like, ‘We have to do this work, if you can avoid going to the grave for a week please do so’.

“I’d have been upset, but it wouldn’t have been as bad. But I wasn’t told anything – there was no warning at all.”

Mr Ingham, who is an engineer, said: “We’ve had no apologies and no respect. They’ve just said ‘this is how it is.’ “If they could at least have phoned us up to let us know in advance, but they said they can’t do that for everyone.

“There’s plenty of open space next to the graves where this earth could have been dumped, but they’ve taken the easiest option.”

He said he and his wife had been hoping to have the grave’s headstone put in place last week, but this has had to be delayed until the earth is removed.

Phil Barker, Bradford Council’s assistant director for sport and leisure, who has responsibility for bereavement services, said: “We have every sympathy as this was an unexpected situation for these family members. However, we do tell those who choose to bury their loved ones in our cemeteries that this can sometimes happen when a funeral takes place at an adjacent grave.

“An officer of the Council did meet with a member of the family this week at the grave, and we hope the family understands the position. We will return the grave to its previous condition once the work to the adjacent burial plot has been completed.”