A grieving Kingsteignton family has criticised Teignbridge Council after a great grandmother's grave was covered in soil, its rose bush and wooden cross cast to one side.

The authority has defended the actions, saying it was common practice when neighbouring graves were being dug.

Retired builder, 67-year-old Owen Orchard, of Crossley Moor Road, was shocked on Wednesday last week when he made a regular trip to the cemetery at Ogwell Cross, Newton Abbot.

His wife Carol, a mother, grandmother and great grandmother, died of cancer aged 62 in April 2009 and he has placed flowers there ever since.

But last week he found a trail of digger tracks and the grave hidden under a soil heap.

The gravestone had been boarded up and the rose bush and cross moved.

Mr Owen said that when he questioned the gravedigger the response had left him staggered.

'He basically said if I didn't like it then I should complain to the council,' he said.

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