Ashes moved 'without widow's permission'

Claims a cemetery worker exhumed the ashes of a dead man and reburied them in a different spot without consulting with his widow are being investigated by Dunedin City Council.

The incident was said to have occurred in a council cemetery this year, prompting a person identifying themselves only as a "very concerned friend" to contact the Otago Daily Times anonymously.

Council staff yesterday confirmed an investigation was under way, but declined all further comment until their investigation of the allegations had been completed.

The anonymous person who contacted the ODT said in a letter the dead man's ashes and personal items had been buried by family, including his widow, in a plot dug by a council worker.

The family left after marking the ashes with a temporary cross and fresh flowers.

When the family next visited they found the ashes, the cross and flowers, had been moved to a new plot elsewhere in the same cemetery.

- NZPA