A GRIEVING daughter who reserved a plot in a cemetery next to where her mother is buried was shocked to find someone else had been buried in the spot she thought would be her own final resting place.

Helen James, 42, of Rotary Close, Colehill, is still getting over the loss of her mother, Pearl, who died of cancer in May last year at the age of 63.

Her father, Tony, 64, went to visit his wife's grave at West Moors Cemetery on Friday to discover a freshly dug grave in the plot which the family believed had been reserved.

Miss James said: "I am absolutely devastated. It is bad enough losing a parent, but then to see someone else has been buried in the place you thought you would be buried in is terrible. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life."

Miss James' parents had reserved a joint plot at the cemetery. Their daughter and her partner, Timothy Bates, 46, decided they also wanted to be buried together.

Miss James contacted West Moors Parish Council and paid £100 to reserve the plot directly behind her mum's grave, but has now discovered plots shown on the council's map as directly behind each other are not, and the plot she had reserved is actually the next one along in the row.

A spokesman for the parish council said: "An issue has arisen in West Moors Cemetery and it is being fully investigated.

"We can confirm that a right to burial was purchased by Helen James. Miss James still has a right to burial but due to irregular interments this plot will now be diagonally adjacent to Miss James' mother, who is already interred in the cemetery, and not directly behind as originally planned.

"We have offered Miss James alternatives arrangements which are at present being considered by Miss James. West Moors Parish Council regrets any distress caused to Miss James."