Cemetery is so ‘vile’ people are exhuming loved ones and burying them elsewhere

A ‘vile’ cemetery littered with dog poo is causing people to exhume their loved ones and bury them elsewhere.

Lisa Angell, 46, lost her daughter Alysha in 2005 when she was just three days old due to multiple organ failure.

Alysha used to be buried at Sutton-in-Ashfield Cemetery in Nottinghamshire, but Lisa said grave ornaments were being stolen at the ‘disgusting’ site.

The ‘final straw’ happened last September when Alysha had to be cremated and buried at home.

‘I never wanted to bury Alysha but we had no choice at the time because there was an inquest into her death,’ Lisa said.

‘When that was all finished, I didn’t want to bring her back up.

‘But the final straw was last September when I took my granddaughter to the grave.

‘I’d always decorated Alysha’s grave based around whatever was happening in the world and at that time we had just lost the Queen, so there were little corgis, a Union Jack and things like that around it.

‘My granddaughter had also painted these two beautiful little birds but on this one particular day I took her there, people had been stealing again and these birds had been smashed.

‘My granddaughter was really upset and after 18 years, I eventually decided I had to bring Alysha back up.’

Lisa says flooding at the cemetery is also an issue after trees were felled some years ago.

It leaves the ground ‘boggy’ while mud covers the paths and graves.

Lisa was granted a licence to exhume Alysha but she worries for other parents whose loved ones and children are buried there.

Sadie Kime, 41, lost her son Ethan in 2004 before he was delivered and buried him at the cemetery. 

‘If nothing is happening in the next month, I will look into sending off an application to bring Ethan back up,’ Sadie said.

‘I never wanted him to be cremated and so I will have to find somewhere else for him to be buried if that happened, which is more expense and more stress but I’ll have to do it because I’ve had enough.’

Julie Carlisle, 46, has both her son and granddaughter buried at the cemetery. Ryan died in 2000 and Poppy in 2014.

She may also consider exhuming if the conditions do not improve.

‘When we first buried Ryan things were not as bad as they are now, but as the years have gone on things have started to get worse,’ she said.

‘It’s just disgusting now and what Lisa did was very brave but if it’s given her peace of mind and that’s what I might have as well, then I might have to do it.’

Ashfield District Council manage the cemetery and said work has taken place to improve it.

But Lisa said this included ‘throwing grey slate’ over the graves, with flowers and borders covered up.

Lisa added: ‘I made a vow to the other parents that I wouldn’t abandon them when we took Alysha home and so we’re trying to raise as much as we can to improve the site.

‘We want to put pagodas in, some more flowers and solar lighting so that when parents come down that hill, it almost looks like a space they can imagine their children playing in.

‘At the moment, it’s a dark and horrible place and the current manager is genuinely trying, but things are still happening too slowly.

‘I haven’t slept properly for 18 years because I was so worried all the time about what was happening to Alysha’s grave.

‘Amazingly, since she’s been back at home, I’ve now started sleeping properly again.’

Tory MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, said: ‘Too many false promises and the recent debacle of just turning up with a van full of slate then dumping it over the children’s graves has made it look even worse.’

A council spokesperson said: ‘The council is aware of the concerns raised about the children’s section of the cemetery. In consultation with the families we have been working hard to address a number of issues and this work will continue to take place.’

Donations to a fundraiser set up by Lisa can be made here.

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