A WIDOW who wished to be buried with her late husband was horrified to find that paperwork revealed she would be buried with two strangers.

Christine Griffiths, 47, of Llanelly Hill tragically lost her husband John in December after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of just 51.

The devoted couple, who were together for 26 years, have two daughters in their 20s.

"When John died in December, he was buried in a church in Gilwern. When I pass away I want to be buried with him so I paid for the exclusive rights to the grave," explained Mrs Griffiths.

" I received a letter with the details of the rights of burial and was shocked to see the names of two complete strangers. One was aged 55 and had died in 1969 and another was a 94-year-old, I had no idea who they were," she said.

Mrs Griffiths said she was stunned when she realised, "I thought I had been through enough with my husband being ill. I had no strength to sort it all out."

An officer from Monmouthshire County Council has now contacted Mrs Griffiths and apologised for the mistake.

"I just want to warn people who, like me, have paid for exclusive burial rights to be with their loved ones, to check every detail of the paperwork. It worried me that this document was signed by witnesses on behalf of the council and was still completely wrong.

"It seems to be careless - it is a legal document after all. The family of these people could have been buried with my husband - just imagine it. It does not bear thinking about."

Dale Roberts, MCC Area General Manager said, "My team is responsible for the management and associated administration relating to the authority's cemeteries here in Abergavenny and Llanelly Hill. Let me first say how sorry we are for this mistake, and of the distress caused to Mrs Griffiths. We realise that the death of a loved one is always an awful time and we recognise this in our work. One of my colleagues has spoken directly with Mrs Griffiths and offered an unreserved apology.

"Having considered our procedures, we have identified changes which will further reduce the chances of this happening again and we have already implemented these changes. Perhaps it is worthwhile providing reassurance that we always have had secondary verification procedures in place to ensure that burials and all memorials and headstone works are undertaken correctly on site. I believe that this is the first time that an administrative error like this has occurred.

"On behalf of Monmouthshire County Council, my colleagues and I recognise that the cemeteries service is one which local people use at the worst times. We work hard to maintain very high standards but on this occasion we made a mistake, for which we unreservedly apologise."