Body buried in churchyard while reverend was away

Conflicting claims emerge in Church court hearing over 82-year-old being granted his dying wish

JIM HAXBY’S dying wish, whatever it took, was to be buried at St Oswald’s Church on the East Riding coast.

Yet when the time came, there was a problem – there was no room for any more bodies. The 82-year-old’s relatives were told that by law, no more burials could take place there unless there was a family grave deep enough. The family was undeterred.

When the vicar, Rev Nigel Chapman, went away for several days on a course, they were helped out by a local funeral director in Filey, North Yorks, who happened to have been good friends with Mr Haxby.

On his return, Mr Chapman was “shocked” to discover that Mr Haxby’s body had been buried in the churchyard after all, “slotted in” a narrow space between two other graves.

He immediately contacted the local registrar and reported the matter to the Archdeacon of Riding before the matter was referred to the Church of England’s Consistory Court.

An investigation was launched by Canon Peter Collier QC, chancellor of the Diocese of York, in his role as court judge. The result was a conflicting version of events, largely centred on a dispute over whether a certain conversation with the vicar was had

“over a cup of tea”. Mr Chapman said that on Oct 4 2018, he had been approached by Vic Bowes, a funeral director, who asked whether a burial could take place at the churchyard after a funeral on Oct 10.

The vicar made clear that it would only be possible to bury ashes or to bury in an existing grave of a member of the family. He offered to explain the issue to Mr Haxby’s widow himself and duly visited her that afternoon before leaving town to go on his course.

However, when the local methodist minister contacted Mr Bowes to finalise details the day before the funeral, he was told the funeral director had “visited the parish office and over a cup of tea with the vicar they sorted everything out”, the court judgment said.

With no reason to doubt it, he proceeded to conduct the funeral and burial accordingly.

However, Mr Chapman said that while Mr Bowes had visited him in the parish office, they did not have a cup of tea and he “made it clear” that unless there was enough room in a family grave no such burial was possible. The court eventually concluded that Mr Bowes was largely to blame.

His actions “fell well below the standard of what is expected of a funeral director”. As such, Mr Bowes was told to pay the court costs.

Mr Collier ruled that although Mr Haxby had “been buried unlawfully”, he would allow the body to remain there. The family later apologised, but added that the cemetery “was always close to Dad’s heart and that was where he was going”.