A MOURNER at an Abergavenny baby's funeral has spoken of her horror when the coffin would not fit in the burial space which had been dug.

Christine Evans of Underhill Crescent, Abergavenny said, "The funeral was at St Mary's Church followed by burial at Llanfoist Cemetery. We were all gathered around, ready for the lowering of the coffin but they couldn't get the coffin into the ground so they tilted it so it looked as if it was going head first into the ground.

"I was then disgusted to learn that the burial plot was dug too small for the baby's coffin. How was a mother supposed to react to that?"

Lisa McCarthy of St Faith's Close, Llanfoist is the mother of the ten month old baby Ryan William who died in University College Hospital, The Heath, Cardiff where he was being treated for a lung problem.

She was at his funeral with her partner Martin Hale. She said, "They tried to put his coffin in upright but the hole was too small. It was really upsetting. My partner and others said something to the undertaker who said they had given the right measurements to the grave digger.

"Then we had to leave. I started crying and so we left and went back five minutes later and they had taken more earth from the grave so the coffin fitted."

"I was disgusted to learn that the burial plot waa dug too small for the baby's coffin. How was a mother supposed to react to that?"

Ms McCarthy said little Ryan had been born by emergency caesarean section at a Birmingham hospital after she suddenly developed a serious heart problem when she was seven months pregnant and the lives of her and the baby were threatened.

She said, "I am now waiting for a heart transplant and I am not allowed to have any more children. Ryan was born with a serious lung problem and he was transferred to Nevill Hall Hospital and then to The Heath where he died." Ms McCarthy has two other children, aged four and two years.

Mrs Evans said, "I have never been so distressed as this, as if a child's funeral is not hard enough to cope with, to find out the burial place was too small absolutely astonishes me. God knows how the parents of the child felt. I want to highlight this to make sure this situation never recurs in future."

A spokesman for Monmouthshire County Council, which owns the cemetery at Llanfoist, said the grave was dug to the exact size as specified by the undertaker on the interment notice.

A spokesperson for Philip Goode said: "We pride ourselves on delivering funerals to the highest standard and in-keeping with families' wishes, so we were upset and disappointed that this was not the case with the burial of Ryan.  Our funeral director has apologised to the family – both during the short delay in the burial and subsequently – and we have reviewed our procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."