Widow, 95, may never be able to visit husband’s grave again after court battle loss

OAP TOO FRAIL TO TRAVEL TO SITE FAILS IN LEGAL BID TO HAVE BODY EXHUMED AND RELOCATED CLOSER TO HER ANGLESEY HOME

A95-YEAR-OLD widow may never be able to visit her husband’s grave again after being told she can’t have his body reburied near her new home on Anglesey.

Iris Egginton moved to Llanddona 17 months after the death of husband James on Christmas Eve in 2017.

He was interred in a consecrated part of Tixall Road Cemetery in Stafford, and Mrs Egginton is now too infirm to travel back there to visit his grave.

The plot was a double grave as the couple had wanted to be side-by-side in their final resting place.

After relocating to Anglesey in 2019, the family applied to have his remains exhumed and reinterred in a graveyard closer to their new home.

Daughter Mavis Bishop petitioned an ecclesiastical court.

Now deputy chancellor Anthony Verduyn has dismissed the case, despite both Stafford Borough Council and Llanddona Community Council giving their consent.

In his judgement for the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Lichfield, he said the circumstances were “not seen to be exceptional and cannot be grounds for exhumation”.

Mr Egginton had lived in Stafford for around 20 years and his funeral was conducted by the vicar from St Bertelin’s Church, where his family were regular worshippers.

The family initially had no plans to move from the area.

But circumstances changed and they moved to Llanddona in May 2019.

Dr Verduyn said: “Mrs Bishop describes leaving the area as distressing, but with the consolation that the grave could be visited.

“The Covid-19 pandemic then intervened and visits were prohibited for lengthy periods of time, with the last visit being Christmas 2019.

“Further, Mrs Egginton is infirm and can no longer manage the journey.

“Mrs Bishop and her husband are in their 70s and may be similarly prevented from visiting in their later years.”

Stafford Borough Council is the burial authority for Tixall Road Cemetery and it granted consent for the move.

But the Consistory Court referred to a judgement handed down in a previous ecclesiastical case from 2002.

Dr Verduyn added: “That made it clear that the fact visits to a grave are prevented by “advancing years and deteriorating health and change of place of residence due to this” is not something which can be exceptional circumstances justifying exhumation.”

He also highlighted how the impact of Covidrelated lockdowns, which affected the ability to travel from North Wales to Staffordshire, were only short-term.