OUTRAGED residents have claimed that local councillors have been involved in a cover-up after a body was buried in the wrong grave at a South Chard cemetery.

Tatworth and Forton Parish Council have been accused of “covering up” and “lying” to residents over the mistake.

But, the council has moved to assure members of the public that “all is as it should be” at Tatworth Cemetery.

Concerned local resident Keith Robbins told The News that no blame was being placed at the council’s door for making a mistake but claims it is the council’s behaviour since has angered fellow villagers.

It is claimed that an elderly woman from Tatworth was going to be buried in her sister’s grave last June in a marked burial plot but instead was buried with a stranger in an unmarked plot dug up in error.

Mr Robbins’ suspicion was aroused by matters up for discussion in private by the parish council.

He said: “I saw that a number of items on the cemetery were popping up on the agenda under ‘confidential’ and I thought that was curious.

“Why would a number of updates about the cemetery need to be held confidentially? I asked a few councillors but they said they had been sworn to secrecy and that it was not to be let out of the parish council – so I knew something had gone wrong.

“I had heard the nods and winks in the village and it wasn’t until I coincidentally bumped into a friend who said ‘you don’t want to be buried in Tatworth – that’s where they put you in the wrong hole.’ “Letters were sent to the parish council in the form of a Freedom of Information request on three occasions and the response was always that nothing had happened.

“I spoke to the Diocese of Bath and Wells who confirmed to me that an application had been made by Tatworth and Forton Parish Council to exhume the body and re-bury it.

“The crux of the issue here is that the council have lied and tried to cover it up – anyone can make a mistake and how many people would really have got up in arms over the simple mistake.

“But it is the way they have acted since that is symptomatic of how little we are allowed to know about the council, this is the tip of the iceberg.

“I have asked for clarity from the council on a number of occasions and have been met with stoney-faced silence, we just want more openness.”

A spokesman for the parish council, which takes care of the Axminster Road site, said they were not prepared to go into detail.

A statement said: “This council values openness but is prevented from making a statement on this matter because it is confidential at the request of those concerned.

“Our residents can be confident that all is as it should be in our well-managed cemetery.”