A mother and her terrified daughter feared they might be trapped in a cemetery overnight after a security officer locked the gates early and left.

The nightmare scenario unfolded when Emma Webster, 30, went to Gravesend Cemetery in Old Road West to water her mother’s grave at about 6.30pm last Thursday evening.

With half an hour left before closing time, she and five-year-old Rosie thought they had plenty of time, but when they went to drive out of the cemetery they found the gates had been locked.

“When I saw the big lock on the gate it was a shock,” said Miss Webster of Riverview Park, Gravesend. “I’d just popped in to water the flowers on my mum’s grave. We were there 6.20/6.30pm and I was back at the gate at 6.35pm.”

She phoned an emergency number on a sign, only to get through to an automated message; then called her father, before eventually getting through to someone at Gravesend Council - who said they’d try to contact the duty officer.

“He wasn’t very reassuring,” added Miss Webster. “I’m sitting there locked in the cemetery and he didn’t know when I’d be let out.

“I was very distressed - but I was more distressed because my daughter was hysterical and having a panic attack in the back of the car.

“She’s only five years old and she could hear me on the phone to the council - she understood we were locked in.”

More than an hour later, with dusk approaching, the duty officer arrived - a man she recalled seeing drive past her when she was watering the flowers on her mother’s grave.

“I did have a go at him but he showed no remorse,” said Miss Webster. “He was quite a young guy and he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

“His aim was clearly to lock up early but if you’re going to do that you should check there aren’t people inside.

“I go there quite regularly and there’s all types of people - old people, children - I could have been and old lady or an old man with no phone.”

“I was very distressed - but I was more distressed because my daughter was hysterical and having a panic attack in the back of the car" - Emma Webster

And she added: “I want to let everyone in Gravesend know they need to have their wits about them if they’re at the cemetery - I just think he needs to learn a lesson.”

Even so she now fears her daughter’s will be affected by the experience on future visits.

“My mother passed away three years ago and it was really emotional for my daughter,” said Miss Webster. “She remembers the hospital visit, and I wanted to keep that relationship going.

“Now she’s going to be worried when she goes to the cemetery.”

A Gravesham Council spokesman said: “Our sites, including the Old Road West Cemetery, are secured and locked up daily by a contractor working on behalf of the council.

"We’re working with this contractor to establish exactly what’s happened. We apologise for the inconvenience to the customer and for any upset that has been caused.”