Widower's heartache after wife's coffin 'gets jammed head-first in grave' during funeral
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA bereaved husband says his grief was compounded after his wife's coffin became 'jammed head-first' during her funeral. Vincent McGuire, 60, lost his beloved wife Elaine, 53, last September after a long illness.
And he chose to have the "adored" mother-of-three and grandmother-of-two laid to rest at Mill Lane Cemetery in Cheadle, Stockport, just a short distance from the family home in Levenshulme.
However, what should have been a solemn and poignant occasion became "shocking and embarrassing" for Vincent and his family when her coffin was not able to pass through the grave that had been dug as more than 200 mourners watched on. READ MORE: Upon arriving from the church at the Stockport Council-run cemetery, Mr McGuire says he was told by the funeral directors that he and several other family members could not act as pallbearers because the burial needed to speeded along as the grave was "buckling".
He then says as the coffin was lowered it became stuck at the foot end and had to be hauled back to the surface. A member of cemetery staff had to use ladder to climb into the 9ft-deep grave and remove some levels of timber shoring before it was re-lowered.
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