Family upset as 'unstable' gravestones tipped over

Family members who arrived to mark their loved one's birthday to find her gravestone was among scores laid flat by the council for safety reasons said the cemetery looked like it had been "ransacked by vandals".

In February, Blaby Parish Council issued a notice it was planning to carry out inspections of memorials at the cemetery off Mill Lane in the village, which took place earlier this month.

But relatives of three-year-old Paige Goodwin said they had not been made aware of any issues with her headstone until they arrived to find it overturned on 14 April.

Her mother Nicola Allison said: "I've never cried so much since probably losing her."

Paige, who was born with special needs, was buried at the cemetery in Mill Lane in 2000 - although an issue with her burial plot by the council at the time meant she had to be disinterred and reburied.

Her gravestone is one of what her family estimate to be dozens that have failed safety inspections carried out by the authority.

Paige's father, Lee Goodwin, said: "It was Paige's birthday, so I was down there to take some flowers. When I saw it I was horrified, absolutely horrified. I didn't know what to do with myself.

"As I was leaving, Nicky arrived and she was inconsolable. It was as though vandals had run through the place, ransacking it."

The family estimates about130 gravestones had been laid flat by council workers at the site, with notices placed on each advising relatives to make contact over the next steps.

Nicola said: "I was there on Easter Sunday and every time I leave I kiss the headstone and I give it a pat, and there was no notice there, there was no nothing.

"Why didn't they contact us, for a start? And what was used to decide to lay these headstones down and cause so much distress?"

Paige's younger brother Ryan Goodwin said the family had been invited by the council to attend a meeting on 28 April where the inspections will be discussed.

He said: "They said in their notice that they could either lay them down, cordon them off, or restabilise them. We feel that it might be apparent to anyone with any common sense that laying them down is by far the least sensitive of those.

"Additionally the lack of communication is clear to see.

"It's too late for our family, but I'd like this approach stopped and rethought, because already there's going to be over a hundred families feeling how I feel."

Blaby Parish Council did not wish to formally comment when approached by the BBC but said it was aware of comments made by relatives of people buried at the site.

It said it had a duty of care for the safety of all visitors to the cemetery, and that all inspections had been carried out by a licensed and trained inspector.

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