Another North East family have revealed their heartbreak and devastation after discovering they had been visiting the wrong grave for more than 43 years.
Sylvia Ross thought she had been visiting her father John at Witton Park Cemetery in Bishop Auckland ever since his death in 1979.
But the 67-year-old from Bishop Auckland, along with her daughter Lynette, were left horrified to discover that they had been paying their respects to the wrong person.
Leaving the pair "devastated," Sylvia only made the discovery after spotting a Facebook post about a wrongly placed plaque being moved by the council.
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It comes after the Bell family from County Durham endured a heart-breaking eight week wait to bury their mum Hilda after she died in June, when they discovered someone else was buried in dad Thomas's grave for 17 years.
An investigation is now underway to discovered how the shocking mistake occured.
Lynette, 42, also from Bishop Auckland, told The Northern Echo: “We’re disgusted, and my mam is heartbroken.
“I never met my grandad, but my mam has been visiting his grave for 43 years and is utterly devastated.
“She’s heartbroken as she says her dad has laid there thinking not one of us cared about him, with no flowers and no visits, nothing.”
It is understood the family had been visiting the grave of a Mr Frederick Brown who also died in the same year, in 1979.
Sylvia’s father, John Thomas Thompson, who died aged 51 from a heart condition, has been lying in an unmarked grave just two plots away.
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Revealing how they found out, the family said the blunder was only confirmed when the Brown family wanted to put up a memorial on their double plot, but realised there was not enough room so contacted Durham County Council.
Lynette then spotted a post in a Facebook group just before Father’s Day, saying the council was trying to contact a family whose memorial was on the wrong plot and was alarmed when a description of the grave sounded like her grandfather’s.
Lynette added: “When my grandad died 43 years ago, before I was born, mam called the council to ask them to put a marker where he had been buried so she knew which plot she was going to.
“They put it on the plot we’ve been visiting my whole life and have taken flowers to every Birthday, Christmas, and Father’s Day while he has actually laid there with nothing.
“It’s just disgusting, how can they get something so simple so wrong?”
The cemetery was run by Wear Valley District Council when John was buried in 1979 but was handed over to Durham County Council in 2009 when it became a unitary authority.
Graham Harrison, Durham County Council’s bereavement services manager, said: “We are sorry for the distress this error has caused the family.
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“At the time, the cemetery would have been managed by Wear Valley District Council. Once we were made aware of the historic mistake, we carefully moved the items to the correct grave within the quickest possible time scale.
“Although the grave has now been corrected, this does not take away from the pain the family has experienced, and we would like to reiterate our sincerest apologies for any hurt that has been caused.”
It comes just months after The Northern Echo told how the grieving Bell family were shocked to be told just two days before mum Hilda’s funeral that the grave where they believed their father was buried 17 years ago was actually home to another coffin.
Tom Bell, 58, and his sisters only discovered the blunder after the death of their mum, whose last wishes were to be buried alongside her doting husband Thomas Bell at Holy Trinity Church, Wingate.
Thomas Bell’s resting place was eventually discovered after a heart-breaking eight week search in which 11 graves were dug up.
Earlier this month Easington MP Grahame Morris raised the Bell family’s case in the House of Commons, calling for improved burial records with digital copies, a new process for marking plots after burial, rules about the “orderly organisation of plots in churchyards”.
Have you discovered your loved ones weren't buried where you believed they were? Get in touch by emailing daniel.hordon@newsquest.co.uk
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