A family have had to bury their father twice after his remains were left in the wrong grave for six years.

The macabre mix up was only spotted in March when Frederick Towner's remains were found in the grave of James Burgess on the day of his wife, Eileen Burgess', funeral.

Serena Smith, Mr Towner's daughter, said: "The air was blue when I found out. But I feel worse for the Burgess', they were on the way to bury their mother when they found out.

"They were in the hearse and said they couldn't postpone the funeral. The cemetery had to dig a third grave for Eileen's remains.

"There was police and everybody around because they'd dug the wrong grave."

To add to the confusion, both families' headstones had been switched following Mr Towner's burial in 2013.

In order to switch the remains to their rightful resting places, the Church of England's Consistory Court had to approve both bodies being exhumed from consecrated land.

John Gallagher, Chancellor of the Diocese of Rochester, in his role as a judge of the Consistory Court said: "In these very particular and unusual, not to say distressing, circumstances, I am wholly satisfied that this is a case where I can and should take an exceptional course."

Mrs Smith, 51, added: "I had to agree my father being moved over. If I didn't they would do it against me and my sister's wishes and put him in an unknown grave."

This month both families gathered at Tunbridge Wells Cemetery to see father-of-four Frederick Towner re-interred with his wife Margaret and son Gavin, while great-grandmother Eileen Burgess' remains were placed with her late husband James'.

Mrs Smith, a healthcare assistant at Rusthall Lodge Care Home, said: "It looked like a crime scene. Environmental health workers were there in forensic suits and it was all fenced off.

"It seemed a bit strange, they'd opened three graves and put cages around them so the ground didn't fall in.

"I thought I'd already buried my dad and it was done, finished and sorted. I wouldn't have known unless they'd gone to bury Mrs Burgess."

This week Mrs Smith and her husband Arthur purchased a new headstone for her family's grave. The cost has been covered by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, which has put the mix up down to human error.

Staff involved in Mr Towner's burial no longer work at the council's burial and cremation department.

A Tunbridge Wells Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We apologised to the families for this very distressing situation and we remain very sorry for what had occurred.

"We have carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances and have reviewed our processes to prevent this mistake occurring again in the future."

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