A judge has given rare consent for the cremated remains of a husband and wife to be moved to another part of the cemetery after being told the couple’s gravestone is constantly being targeted with bird droppings.

When the family of Frederick and Ellen Couley chose the plot in Heaton Cemetery, Newcastle, for the couple’s ashes to be buried in they never realised the tree above it was used as a roost for various birds.

Frederick Couley died in January 2020 and his wife Ellen died in October 2020 and their ashes were buried in the cemetery in December that year – before the birds roosting started.

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And Judge Simon Wood, Chancellor of the Diocese of Newcastle, was told at the Church of England’s Consistory Court that the amount of bird droppings had rendered the couple’s grave hazardous to health.

Normally, applications for exhumation of human remains are refused, due to the church philosophy that a last resting place should be just that, unless there has been a mistake or there are exceptional circumstances.

In this case, though, Judge Wood ruled that the roosting season deluge of droppings on the grave was reason for him to grant consent to Terry Couley, the couple’s son who, supported by other family members, had asked the court to approve the couple’s remains being moved to a bird free area of the cemetery.

The judge said that he had seen photographs of the grave which the family said had been “so affected by faeces from the use of the tree by roosting birds” that it had become “unsightly and unhygienic” to the point that it was potentially hazardous to the health of those visiting it.

Granting rare consent for the couple’s remains to be moved he said the family had “created a dignified and respectful memorial to much loved parents and grandparents.”

But he continued: “Unfortunately, the problem complained of has denied them the opportunity of maintaining the grave in a dignified and respectful state despite their best endeavours. It has thereby caused them distress and created a situation over which they can never have any reasonable control.”

He said that in all the circumstances and despite the fact that what was taking place was a “natural phenomenon” he made an exception to the normal rules relating to the church philosophy on exhumation.