A FAMILY have been left distraught after having found their loved one’s grave buried by earth from someone else’s plot when they visited the site on Fathers’ Day.

Rosie Williams went to the final resting place of her father Ivor Annetts, whom passed away five years ago, alongside her daughter Emma Tanner, and sister Sara Annetts.

When Rosie couldn’t see her father’s grave at Christchurch Cemetery she thought he had been moved.

It was only when she spotted the mound of earth, dug for a funeral to take place the following day, that she realised her dad was under it and burst into tears, still holding the flowers she’d hoped to lay for him.

Mrs Tanner, a 37-year-old mum-of-one from Mudeford, said: “We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. On any day this is disrespectful but on Fathers’ Day? I just can’t explain how we felt. It’s sick and we just cried. It’s a hard time anyway because I was very close to my grandad.

"I’m just in disbelief that they could be so heartless. Then to explain it to my gran, Jean, was really hard. We had to ask her to keep away because we didn’t want her to see it, we couldn’t upset her.”

Jean, now 84, and Ivor were childhood sweethearts. Because of his love of gardening, the family planted bulbs to create a small garden at his headstone, which they now argue has been destroyed, as have the ornaments placed by the grandchildren.

A spokesperson for Christchurch Borough Council - responsible for the Jumpers Road site - said staff had no choice about where to put the soil because there would have been no space for the funeral party.

Alan Ottaway, landscape and countryside team leader at Christchurch Borough Council, said: “We would like to apologise for any distress caused to the person who came to visit their relative’s grave. Unfortunately this is what happens during normal operations at a cemetery.

"All adjacent graves will be put back to the same condition they were. We try to deal with these situations as neatly and as sensitively as we can but understand that it can be difficult for relatives who come to visit graves which are adjacent to imminent burials.”

Jack Stanisstreet, senior funeral director at Deric Scott said there is no standard practice for removing earth for burials as every site is different.