Body of Daniel Hastelow has this morning been exhumed and reburied in a new grave

Body of Daniel Hastelow has this morning been exhumed and reburied in a new grave
body of Mr Daniel Hastelow has this morning been exhumed and reburied in a new grave at Walsall Wood Churchyard after a Consistory Court heard that he had mistakenly been buried in a grave reserved by faculty – a legal order – for the widow of the man buried in the next door grave.

The Churchyard, in Brooklands Road, Walsall Wood, was closed shortly before 6.00am this morning. Mrs Susan Hastelow, Danny Hastelow’s mother, was present at the Churchyard, as was the Archdeacon of Walsall, the Ven Chris Sims. The Churchyard re-opened at 8.30am after the work was completed.

The order for the exhumation was handed down on 6th April by His Honour Judge Marten Coates, Chancellor of the Lichfield Consistory Court, sitting at Warwick Combined Court Centre. The judgement gave the family of Mr Hastelow 21 days to organise the exhumation themselves before responsibility switched to the Archdeacon of Walsall.

The Hastelow family had asked the Court of Arches, the appeal court for ecclesiastical law in Canterbury Province, for permission to apply out of time for leave to appeal; and this was granted. The Court of Arches then imposed a stay on the Chancellors Judgement. No application for leave was received; despite the Court of Arches extending the deadline; and the stay was lifted last Friday.

Gavin Drake, director of communications for the Diocese of Lichfield, said: “Now the exhumation and reburial has taken place we hope and pray that both families will be able to begin the process of healing; and we remain extremely sorry for the additional grief and suffering they have been forced to endure as a result of this error.

“The mistake which led to the burial in the wrong grave was entirely the fault of the church. It was a very simple error but the consequences of it were extremely serious for the two families.