The Bell household, who buried patriarch Thomas again in 2005, usually visited his headstone at Holy Trinity cemetery in Wingate for 17 years.
An inquiry discovered “a perfect storm” of issues led to the crushing mistake, believed to be as a result of human error of a stonemason.
Bob Cooper, the Archdeacon of Sunderland, mentioned that the error was a “great sadness” attributable to plenty of flawed protocols being adopted.
Cooper mentioned a stonemason fitted the gravestone for Bell in 2005 however as a consequence of “insufficient process” and “poor record keeping” it was “placed on the wrong grave”.
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He mentioned the vicar on the time chargeable for the burial, who has since died, “did not keep records to the extent that would be considered best practice”.
“The term ‘a perfect storm’ is used all too often in modern parlance, however on this occasion it seems particularly apt,” Cooper mentioned.
“It cannot be guaranteed that historic cases like this will not reoccur because there will be gaps in the records for many reasons in parishes across the Diocese of Durham and further afield.”
Plenty of suggestions are set to be carried out throughout the parish to make sure the mix-up doesn’t happen once more.
