Woman Distressed After Stranger Buried in Her Reserved Grave

Marie Lane, 69, says she has been left feeling distressed after a stranger was mistakenly buried in a grave she had reserved and paid for at Deeping St James Cemetery in Lincolnshire. Lane had purchased the exclusive right to be buried in a plot behind her deceased parents in 2013.

In early 2023, Lane discovered that someone had been buried in her reserved plot. She said it took her more than three years to appeal to have the person moved, as there were no other nearby spaces to her parents. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) granted a licence to exhume the person in order to rectify the error, despite moral and religious objections from the deceased person's family.

Deeping St James Parish Council acknowledged the mistake and apologised for the distress caused to both families. The burial plot has been returned to Lane. However, Lane says she no longer feels able to regularly visit the graves of her parents due to the distress caused by the incident. Her husband, Eric Lane, 77, is concerned about the parish council's ability to run the cemetery and the possibility of future errors.