EditorSKEWEN: Family ‘devastated’ after digger drives over teenage son’s grave
Tracey O’Brien’s son Liam, who passed away aged 16, is buried at Coedffranc Cemetery in Skewen.
But the family say they have been left heartbroken by the treatment of his final resting place, which is next to his grandfather.
Photos shared on social media show deep, muddy tracks running across the grass and directly over the plot.
Liam’s aunt, Lynne Richards, said her sister had been left distraught by the incident and a perceived lack of action to repair the damage.
Tyre tracks from a digger can be seen running past the graves of Liam Jordan Thomas and his grandfather Desmond Thomas at Coedffranc Cemetery.(Image: Tracey O’Brien)
“My sister was left absolutely devastated when she took flowers to her Son Liams Grave,” Ms Richards said.
She added that the family had also faced a second distressing incident at the cemetery.
“Following the passing of Liam and my dad, who are next to each other, we purchased an additional plot for me, so eventually we can all be together,” she explained.
“Coedffranc Cemetry dug up my plot and almost buried a complete stranger in there.”
Ms Richards described the incidents as “shocking behaviour and services for the public”.
Coedffranc Town Council, which runs the cemetery, has expressed its “sincere sympathy to the family involved” and acknowledged the distress the incident had caused.
In a statement, the council explained that grounds teams had to move an excavator across the grave to access another plot that needed to be reopened.
It said a boundary wall left only one narrow access point, and that two weeks of heavy rainfall had left the ground “extremely soft”, leading to the “unintentional damage”.
The council said continued rainfall meant the ground could not be rectified immediately.
It added that after being formally contacted, Councillor Annette Wingrave visited the site and agreed the ground should have been restored sooner.
The council said it has remained in contact with the family and has now scheduled work to lay new turf on the grave as requested.
To prevent future incidents, the council said it has requested a section of the boundary wall be lowered to create a new access point for cemetery vehicles.
The council also addressed the family’s claim that they were “snubbed” by Cllr Wingrave on a local Facebook group.
It said Cllr Wingrave was not an administrator of the page and that posts were removed by page admins “when comments began to include insults and threats”.
The council’s statement did not address the family’s allegation that a stranger was almost buried in a plot they had purchased.
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