Fife Council has issued an apology after a man was buried in the wrong grave in St Andrews.
Matt Cuthbert was laid to rest in a plot seven graves away from the family lair in the Western Cemetery.
The error was spotted by friend Tommy Milne (62), who did not recognise the names on the headstone.
“We used to have lunch together most days and Matt was a quiet man who’d be surprised at what has happened,” he said.
“It’s a dreadful mistake for the council to make. They’re probably lucky he doesn’t have any surviving relatives who would have been very unhappy by what happened.”
Mr Cuthbert, a former merchant sailor, died of a heart attack at the age of 84.
He was supposed to be buried with his parents Alexander and Agnes Cuthbert, whose headstone is 10 metres away from where Mr Cuthbert was buried in the plot of another Cuthbert family.
Legal firm Pagan Osborne confirmed it is dealing with Mr Cuthbert’s estate but stressed it is not involved with burial plot matters. It said this was the responsibility of Fife Council, which has launched an investigation into the mistake.
The local authority says it was treating the mix-up with urgency and looking into how it occurred.
Parks and countryside service manager Jim Hooton said, “We apologise for the mistake and for the distress this will have caused to Mr Cuthbert’s family and friends at an already difficult time.
“We were alerted to this issue on Monday and officers acted immediately to set in motion the procedures needed to rectify the matter.
“We will ensure this is dealt with as quickly as possible to minimise any further disruption or distress.
“Fife Council solicitors are now taking this issue forward and we also intend to fully investigate how this regrettable situation occurred.”
Before Mr Cuthbert’s body can be moved to its final resting place the council will have to seek permission from the sheriff in Cupar allowing exhumation and burial.
A neighbour of Mr Cuthbert, who asked not to be named, said she was one of only around ten mourners to attend the funeral.
She spoke of her suspicions at the graveside after noticing the two names carved into the headstone belonged to men.
“Anybody with any common sense could see it was the wrong grave,” she said.
John Thomson (78), a nearby resident who knew Mr Cuthbert for over 50 years, said he had concerns but stopped short of flagging the issue with workers.
“I noticed the names on the grave and clearly his mother’s name was not there,” said Mr Thomson. “But I thought it could have been a double lair so didn’t say anything.
“If only we had walked up a few yards we would have seen the mistake.”