A GRIEVING daughter narrowly stopped a stranger's body being buried in her mother's grave when she visited to mark the second anniversary of her death.

Carol Stone, 49, arrived at Avonview Cemetery in Beaufort Road, St George, to find a large group of people gathered by her mother Joyce's graveside. As she approached she realised to her horror that the grave had been dug up – and the group was a funeral party awaiting the burial of a loved one in the same plot, not knowing that her mother's body was already there.

Mrs Stone, of Jeffrey Court, Warmley, halted Tuesday's burial with minutes to spare, as the hearse was approaching the graveside when she intervened.

She found items she had placed at her mother's grave, including a potted plant and flowers she had laid there last week, strewn to the side.

Mrs Stone had to tell cemetery staff they had mistakenly dug up a grave that was already occupied.

They then checked and found the plot they should have dug up was three rows away.

The grave had not been dug deep enough to reach her mother's coffin as the other person was due to have been buried in a shallower grave.

Family and friends of the person who was due to be buried faced an upsetting 25-minute wait for the correct plot to be dug.

Mrs Stone also had to wait for her mother's plot to be filled with soil again and has been told she will not be able to place anything at the graveside for a year, so that the ground can resettle.

She told the Evening Post: "I am absolutely devastated.

"If I hadn't visited at that specific time another person would have been buried in the same plot as my mum.

"My dad has always wanted to be buried there and we had hoped the spot would be saved for him.

"A wooden cross my brother had made which had a photo our mum on it had just been pushed to the side.

"There was also a potted plant and some flowers I had left last week that had also been moved.

"I don't understand how the cemetery staff could have thought it was alright to bury another person there.

"Surely it's not normal practice to bury a stranger with someone who only died two years ago.

"When I complained to the person in charge he admitted they had made a mistake.

"I was so upset to have to watch the soil go back in – it was like going back two years and having to go through it all over again.

"I am still dealing with my mother's death and this has just opened another can of worms.

"The fact that it was the second anniversary of her death just made it all the worse.

"I'm not looking to gain anything from this, but simply want to know that it won't happen again."

Mrs Stone's mother Joyce, who lived in Fishponds with her father Jim, died aged 81 on February 7, 2010 after suffering from heart disease.

Mrs Stone is now a carer for her father, 88, who is disabled and suffers from heart disease and deep vein thrombosis.

Her brother Ronald Stone, 58, who lives in Downend, has also been left shocked by the mistake.

"I can't believe what has happened," he said.

"I feel awful that my sister had to go through all this.

"We have been told to wait for a phone call from the cemetery supervisor, but are both just stunned by what happened."

A city council spokeswoman said: "We deeply regret the distress caused to Carol Stone, her family and the other family concerned over this terrible mix-up at Avonview Cemetery.

"This mix-up was due to basic human error failing to identify the correct plot and we offer our sincere apologies.

"In this extremely rare case, our level of service and care fell well short of the high standards we set ourselves.

"We will be writing to both parties affected by this incident.

"We will, of course, look again at our procedures and triple-check our records to ensure this does not happen again."