Sunderland council asks dead woman to clear own grave

Fiona Hendry said she had been left looking at a "piece of dirt" where her parents are buried

A family say they were "disgusted" when a council wrote to their deceased mother asking her to clear unauthorised items from her own grave.

The letter was sent to Susanne Wilson eight months after she was buried at Sunderland's Bishopwearmouth Cemetery.

Her daughter Fiona Hendry, from Houghton-le-Spring, said: "It was just awful, there was a lack of compassion."

Sunderland City Council said sending the letter was an "unfortunate administrative error".

In the correspondence, the council's bereavement service said some items could be a potential "trip hazard" and wanted to return burial sites to a "safe environment".

The plot contains five small plants and a two-inch angel memento which reads "Grandma".

Andrew Wilson, Mrs Wilson's son, says the family were "disgusted" when they received the letter

"It was a kick in the teeth. It was absolutely heart-breaking," Mrs Hendry told the BBC.

Mrs Wilson was buried in January, alongside father Billy who died while watching a football match at the Stadium of Light in 2004.

Mrs Hendry said the family could not afford a council-approved headstone to officially mark the site, which she was told could cost about £2,000.

This means that, once the remaining items are removed, her parents' grave will be unmarked.

"We could get an [acrylic] headstone and mark it temporarily until we can save up the money, but we're not even allowed to put that on.

"We can't even put a plaque on that gives the name and what they meant to us. We can't come to the cemetery to grieve, it's too upsetting."

The family says their parents' grave will be left unmarked if the flowers and memento is removed

Other families have been told all unauthorised items, including enclosures, fences and flower displays, must be removed by 30 September.

Kath Brown's parents Jenny and Jimmy are also buried at the cemetery in Chester Road.

She has been told a granite marker and flowerpot, professionally installed in 2018 at a cost of £3,500, would need to be removed.

She said: "We've been told anything that comes beyond the main stone, the headstone, or in front of it is an obstacle.

"You want somewhere to come and see your loved ones, [bring] things like little pots from the kids and little bunches of flowers."

Ms Brown has argued against the council's suggestion such items were a health and safety hazard.

Kath Brown's mother and father are buried at Bishopwearmouth Cemetery

She said there were "larger" safety issues at the cemetery including uneven surfaces, which she said had not been addressed.

"There are parts of this cemetery outside the gravestones that are all bumpy and I've tripped a few times," she said.

Wheel trims, fallen branches on top of graves and large cracks in pavements have also become features at the cemetery, say families.

A spokesman for Sunderland City Council said it had contacted more than 2,000 grave holders in the past year and had received "a lot of positive comments".

"We know the importance of decorating graves and therefore personalised areas to graves are permitted, where installed by a registered memorial mason," he said.

"Other enclosures made from unsuitable materials, or which extend beyond the permitted sizes, can interfere with maintenance arrangements and prevent access to necessary equipment for the purposes of digging graves and maintaining grassed areas.

Families were originally told to clear items last year, but a new deadline has been set for 30 September

"In some instances this can be extremely dangerous to staff and visitors."

He urged anyone with concerns to contact the council's bereavement services team.