Dad grieved for baby at wrong spot for 30 years
A DAD has been grieving for his baby daughter at an empty spot for 30 years - because the headstone was in the wrong place.
George Salt was devastated when he found out little Victoria was buried around 10 feet away from the ‘grave’ he had been visiting since her tragic death at less than two days old.
The Southern Cemetery plot, he recently discovered, was actually empty.
The headstone, which marked the public grave of 17 people, was in the wrong place. It is thought it had been earlier moved and never put back at the correct plot.
George, 57, was told by Manchester council that in January they were asked to bury someone’s ashes with their child’s, whose name appears on the same gravestone.
Bereavement service workers then discovered the headstone had been moved around 10ft away from the correct spot, to a vacant plot, so moved it back.
Council chiefs don’t know when or why the gravestone was moved, or why it wasn’t put back sooner.
George said he was ‘gutted’ he had been ‘talking to an empty space in the ground’ for three decades.
Victoria died in July 1988. George, from Stockport, has visited the cemetery twice a year ever since. It is not known whether the families of other people buried at the same plot know of the mistake.
Stockport council supervisor George said: “I can’t express how I felt, I was just gutted. When I would visit the grave, I would talk to her.
“You are talking to somebody that wasn’t there. My family and friends can’t believe it. There’s nothing anybody could say to make it better.
“There’s only me that goes to the grave. Victoria’s mother moved to Australia. I wouldn’t like anybody else to go through it.
“Victoria was born at St Mary’s Hospital and was very premature.
“It was very traumatic at the time. It just lives with you all the time. Thirty years down the line, it’s a bit much.”
Town hall bosses have apologised for the mistake. Councillor Luthfur Rahman, responsible for culture and leisure, said: “We completely understand Mr Salt’s distress and we would like to extend our sincere apologies for any upset caused.
“There are more than 200,000 graves at Southern Cemetery and we strive to ensure the plots are well looked after. The public grave had not been disturbed for around 30 years, so it is unclear why the headstone had, at some point, been moved to a vacant plot close by.
“The headstone was returned to its correct location earlier this year.”