Six graves unearthed to search for missing coffin after church admits burial error

After being told the family had visited the wrong plot for more than 10 years, the church dug up six graves to find the missing coffin.

Other families have now been told that they, too, have been mourning the wrong grave for years.

Thom Bell and his sister were horrified when the grave where their father had been buried for 17 years was said to be another coffin.

The family first discovered the bug after the death of Hilda’s mother.
The last wish was to be buried with her husband Thomas Bell.
Holy Trinity Church, Wingate, Durham.

But when the gravedigger came to prepare Hilda’s grave, they found out.
The woman’s coffin was buried where Thomas was supposed to be.

Then they noticed that another man was also buried nearby.

Male relatives, like Thomas, who had been buried in the wrong place for years, are now understood to be reporting disturbing errors.

So far, six graves have been excavated to find Thomas’s coffin, but his resting place has yet to be found.

It is allegedly due to confusion between the two plots of headstones after Thomas was buried in 2005 and inconsistent records after the original cemetery map was lost in a fire in the 1980s.

Bell’s family is currently awaiting permission from the Diocese of Durham to dig up another grave he believes to contain Thomas’s coffin.

Tom Bell, a factory worker in Easington, Durham, had previously spoken out about the damage caused by this discovery.

“The loss of our mother was devastating,” the 58-year-old said.

“And we spent the last 17 years talking about my father’s grave.
Your visit is simply intolerable. How did this happen?

“Our mother lies in a funeral home awaiting a funeral, and our father is here
Somewhere in the grave without a headstone in the cemetery. “

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