Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
MY GRAVE CONCERN
Mum says son’s resting place was ‘desecrated’
A grieving Coatbridge mum has slammed cemetery workers for “desecrating” her stillborn son’s grave.
Gillian Mcghee was shocked when she went to pay her respects just before Christmas at her son Jamie Michael’s final resting place at Old Monkland cemetery and found the grave was a “mess”.
She discovered tributes had been taken off his grave and shoved behind another headstone.
Stunned mum-of-three Gillian claimed she was then treated with contempt when she confronted staff at the cemetery.
She said: “When we went to his grave, I could not believe my eyes. It was a mess. The whole place had been desecrated by the grave diggers.
“When I approached staff to ask who had caused the damage to the grave, the person responsible just arrogantly responded, ‘me, how?’.
“There was absolutely no care or respect when moving the ornaments from my son’s grave.
“They were digging a new grave
and just took all of my son’s ornaments and just shoved them behind a headstone to get them out of the way.
“I was in tears and just couldn’t believe the state of the place.
“We didn’t have loads of ornaments or anything, it was just a few mementoes and that kind of thing.
“He is my son and they have done this – it is unreal.
“He passed away last year and this is the way they have treated his resting place. It is utterly disgusting.”
Gillian’s son Jamie Michael Rafferty passed away in May last year.
Gillian shared photos showing one tribute saying“in Loving Memory of Jamie Michael Rafferty, 20/5/2019. I hope you are dancing in the sky, baby boy”which had been taken off his grave before being placed behind another gravestone with ornaments and flowers.
Cleaner Gillian added: “Later, I rang the cemeteries section and requested a call back from the manager.
“I was contacted by someone who took no responsibility for the actions taken by his team.
“He tried to deny what had happened, saying that his team would not carry out these kind of actions, despite me repeatedly informing him that I have photographic and video evidence of the damage done.
“He offered to have my son’s grave repaired and I told him not to touch anything as they had done enough.
“When I went back to the cemetery they had ignored me and had tried to rectify and hide the damage caused.
“There has been a real disregard for my feelings and those of my family.
“I understand that staff have been under pressure and there is a strain on these services during the pandemic, but I expect there to be some level of respect shown to people.
“That was clearly not the case here.”
Commenting on the incident, a North Lanarkshire Council spokeswoman said:“we understand any work to a grave may be upsetting to the family, but our staff are experienced in lair preparation and everything is done to carry out this work sensitively and with minimum disturbance.
“The cemeteries manager has spoken to the family in this case to explain why the work was necessary.
“The memorials and kerbing around the grave have been replaced.”
I was in tears and couldn’t believe the state of the place ... he is my son and they have done this – it is unreal Gillian Mcghee