Family Learns They Have Been Visiting The Wrong Grave For Their Dad For 43 Years

When a family realized they were visiting the wrong grave, they were shocked and devastated.

For more than 40 years, Sylvia Ross, 67, has made multiple visits to the grave she believes to be that of her father.

In 1979, Sylvia laid to rest her father, John Thomas Thompson, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, at Witton Park Cemetery.

Credit: North News and Pictures

She was heartbroken to learn that the plot she had been visiting for so long belonged to a stranger by the name of Fredrick Brown.

Just a few yards away, her father was buried in an unmarked grave.

A Facebook post about a missing plaque at the cemetery that the council was moving enabled the family to learn about the mistake.

Credit: North News and Pictures

The wrong grave was where Sylvia and her family had been paying their respects, it was later revealed.

A probe is being conducted to determine how the error occurred and how Sylvia's father ended up just two plots away.

Her daughter, Lynette, said: "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."

When the family of Fredrick Brown realized there wasn't enough room on their double plot for a memorial, they contacted Durham County Council. Then Sylvia requested that a grave marker be placed on her father's grave so that it could be properly identified.

Only then, were questions raised, as Lynette continued: "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 laid there with nothing.”

"It's just disgusting, how can they get something so simple so wrong."

Before being handed over to Durham County Council in 2009, Wear Valley District Council managed the cemetery when John was laid to rest there in 1979.

Graham Harrison, the manager of bereavement services for Durham County Council, issued an apology for the oversight saying: "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."

He continued: "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."

Surprisingly, this is not County Durham's only serious error; another one occurred relatively recently in Wingate.

In a comparable incident, a family spent 17 years visiting a grave they thought contained the remains of their fathers only to learn that a woman was buried there.