Gravediggers wrongly accused of burying bodies in wrong graves publish book

Berwick gravediggers wrongly accused of burying bodies in wrong graves have published a book telling their side of the story.

It has been exactly 10 years since two Berwick-upon-Tweed gravediggers lost their jobs.

Twelve months after their sacking, accusations surfaced from Northumberland County Council saying Chris Gregory and Malcolm Purvis may have buried bodies in the wrong graves.

The duo say they also faced accusations of 'illegal burials' and even pushing a colleague into an open grave and leaving her "for dead".

"To make those allegations twelve months after we were sacked was bad enough, but it didn't just affect Malcolm and I," says Chris.

But an ensuing council investigation eventually found no issues with any of the pair's burials and a police probe into the alleged assault of their manager was dropped.

Despite making repeated calls on the Council to apologise, Chris and Malcolm have never received one.

Now, the duo have written a book, The Gravediggers' Chronicles, to tell their side of the story.

Malcolm and Gregory are continuing their campaign for an apology from the local authority they say caused immeasurable suffering.

But there is no sign they are likely to get one in the near future.

A Northumberland County Council spokesperson said:

"While we wouldn't talk about individual cases, the disciplinary processes in these matters which took place several years ago considered a number of serious issues aside from allegations of illegal or incorrect burials.