Blundering council apologies after it buries people in wrong graves in Coney Hill cemetery

A council has apologised for burying people in the wrong graves in its cemetery.

It emerged there have been at least two mix-ups at Coney Hill cemetery in , blunders which have "shocked and deeply saddened" a local councillor. Another councillor said: "It sounds like something out of a horror movie. Certainly something like this needs to be addressed pretty much immediately."

The issue was exposed during a public meeting where calls were made for Gloucester City Council, which the Tories lost last year, to investigate the mix-ups. Councillor Alastair Chambers, who raised the point, said: he was "shocked and deeply saddened".

It is not known when the mix-up occurred but it is thought that the two burials happened in wrong locations for unrelated reasons. The council says "followed all processes and procedures" to move the graves to the correct locations.

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Speaking at the meeting last week, Councillor Declan Wilson, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: "It sounds like something out of a horror movie." Councillor Chambers, who represents the nearby Matson ward, had said: "I [was] both shocked and deeply saddened to learn that the city council has been burying bodies in the wrong graves. It's hard to believe that such a devastating mistake could even happen."

A spokesperson for the council said it has apologised to the families and friends of the deceased. The council is aware of two graves in recent years that have been placed in the wrong location within the cemetery grounds," they said.

"We have followed all processes and procedures to move those graves to the correct locations in the cemetery, and have been working sensitively with the families involved to resolve these. Our thoughts and feelings remain with the family and friends of the deceased." has contacted the council for further comment.

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following a similar blunder at a in 2023. The mix-up happened in the morgue at The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, south Wales, when the wrong body was given to the family. The family, who have not been named, had to have a second service once the error was discovered by health bosses.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has apologised and is now investigating internally. Nicola Prygodzicz, chief executive of the health board, said: "Words cannot express how sorry we are. We are utterly heartbroken about what has happened to the family and we take responsibility for this isolated incident."