Walsall Wood wrong-grave body to be exhumed

The body of a murdered man who was buried in the wrong plot in a West Midlands churchyard is to be exhumed, a church court judge has decided.

Daniel Hastelow, 26, was stabbed to death in Majorca in 2008 and his body was laid to rest in St John's churchyard, Walsall Wood, in November.

However, the plot had been reserved by Jean Best so she could be buried next to her late husband Michael.

Judge Marten Coates ruled that an exhumation was "reasonable."

Mr Hastelow's family had objected to his body being disturbed again but Mrs Best said it was her husband's dying wish to be buried in the same plot as herself.

Mr Coates, the chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, said: "In exercising my discretion, I consider that the submission advanced by the Archdeacon must prevail.

"In all the circumstances I find that the stance taken by Mrs Best has been reasonable and I am satisfied that in view of the error which has occurred here it would be right to permit an exception to the general rule that when a person is buried in consecrated ground that should be regarded as a final resting place."

Mr Hastelow's body is to be exhumed and reinterred elsewhere in the churchyard.

Family campaign

Revd Nigel Carter has accepted full responsibility for the "foolish" mistake and apologised for the distress it caused to both families.

At a church hearing last week he told the court: "This tragic error, which has caused considerable grief to both families, was entirely my fault. It was my responsibility to mark the appropriate plot for his burial and I failed to do so."

Mr Hastelow had been working in Majorca as a barman when he was murdered.

His family campaigned for many months to raise the money to pay for his body to be returned home and it was eventually exhumed on the Spanish island and returned to the UK.

Richard Roberts, 36, from Merseyside, was convicted of Mr Hastelow's murder and jailed for 18 years in September 2009.