Family heartbreak as couple's headstone removed from Bedworth cemetery with no warning

The incident happened at Bedworth cemetery



A family were left heartbroken after they found their loved ones' headstone had been removed from Bedworth cemetery - with no warning. The Nicklin family had visited Marston Lane cemetery on Sunday to lay flowers at the grave of Ann Nicklin, a much-missed mum and nan.

But what was already an upsetting day was made worse when they could not find the place where Ann and her late husband Trevor were laid to rest. In fact, they were forced to look for old photographs to try to place where the grave was.

Much to their horror, they finally found it - but the headstone had been removed as had all of the flowers and flowerpots. And all that was left was a mound of mud with visible footprints on it.

"I have never seen my dad so upset, not even when my nan died as we knew it was coming," said Laura Nicklin, who was among those who went to lay flowers on Mother's Day.

"To go to the cemetery and not be able to find the grave and then to find that everything had been removed, including the headstone, we are heartbroken." She said the last time they had gone down before that was on her late Nan's birthday on February 16.

"It was fine then, everything was there, but then we found this, there was no note, nothing," she said. "My dad never takes time off work but he took the day off yesterday, he went down to the council and was told there was no one available to speak to him.

"If there was a problem with it (the headstone), we would have understood, but they should have contacted us. They should have told us.

"It is the way they (the council) have done it. We want answers. As much as I am angry, I am also disgusted at the way they (the council) have done this."

The family is also keen to make sure that other people who have relatives in the cemetery check on their loved ones' graves. "We want people to be aware of what has happened - we wouldn't have known if we hadn't gone down there."

CoventryLive contacted Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council for a comment.

It was explained that due to the poor state of the ground in part of the cemetery, a grave that had been prepared collapsed. As a result, that burial had to take place in another part of the cemetery and this impacted a number of nearby graves, including that of the Nicklin family.

The council apologised that it did not have time to contact all of the families affected, but reassured them headstones are with funeral directors and they will be relaid as soon as possible.