Father grieved for his daughter at wrong grave for 30 years after cemetery mistake

George Salt’s daughter Victoria buried at Southern Cemetery in Manchester in 1988

(BBC)

A father said he was "gobsmacked" to discover that he had been visiting the wrong grave for his daughter because cemetery workers misplaced the headstone 30 years ago.

George Salt’s daughter, Victoria, was buried at Southern Cemetery in Manchester, after she died less than two days after her birth in 1988.

Having visited the grave twice a year for three decades, Mr Salt told the BBC he felt “let down”. He only realised there had been a mix-up when he arrived at the cemetery to find the headstone gone.

"I looked down and was completely gobsmacked. I thought 'where's the stone gone?',” he said.

He eventually found the headstone in a different spot.

Authorities said the stone had been moved in error in the 1980s, but the mistake was only rectified when cemetery workers checked records and moved it to the correct space, above a public grave containing the remains of 17 people, including Victoria.

“You sit and talk and you say what your troubles are, but the annoying thing is, I’m talking to a piece of ground where she isn’t there,” Mr Salt said.

Manchester City Council apologised for the error and said the passing of time meant it was unable to say why the stone had been moved in the first place.