A MOTHER and daughter are furious with the managers of Maidstone Cemetery after the grave of their husband and father was covered in a mound of earth by grave diggers.

Jackie Floyd and her 64-year-old mother, Jean, visited the cemetery on Saturday morning to find Peter Floyd's grave covered in earth by cemetery workers digging a grave next to it.

Jean Floyd, of Coombe Road, Maidstone, said: "It was a shock. They were digging a new grave and they'd put all the dirt on his grave. It looked a mess."

She stressed: "I feel terrible. They don't even tell you or notify you. As far as I'm concerned that's our bit of ground."

The shock came close to the first anniversary of Mr Floyd's death, on March 13 last year. The cemetery, off Sutton Road, is already the target of families' anger after Maidstone Borough Council sent out letters telling relatives to remove flowers from the graves.

A spokesman for Maidstone council said the new grave would normally have been dug on a Monday so as not to disturb weekend visitors to the cemetery. He said: "When preparing a new grave, due care and attention is taken to protect surrounding memorials and headstones and to reinstate them afterwards.

"Unfortunately, the Bank Holiday weekend prolonged this process and the council apologises for the distress caused to the family."