A MAN said his mother's grave was left in an 'absolute disgrace' at a cemetery.

Michael Stern, from Lymington, decided to take advantage of the sunshine on Sunday, May 13, and visit his mother's grave with his elderly father.

When he arrived at St John's Church in Boldre, he was 'amazed, astonished and downright furious' to find someone had dug a grave next to his mother's and built a framework to hold soil which was dumped on top of her grave.

Michael said: "It was just wrong on every level.

"They just dumped soil on top of my mum as if she doesn't really matter anymore.

"It was downright disrespectful. It was a conscious effort that somebody had gone to save them from making a mess somewhere else."

The structure was made up of steel posts all the way around Michael's mother's grave. They then put wooden planks around it, 'piled it with a metre of soil,' and put tarpaulin on top.

The flowers and boxes on her grave were thrown behind the wooden structure.

Michael said: "We had planted some bulbs on top of mum's grave, which we were letting grow because it had been soil for a long time, and now, they're completely destroyed."

Michael's mother was described as a 'lovely person who would give her shirt off her back to help people'.

He said: "She had a deep sense of community and a deep sense of respect for people.

"She had values and rules, and she would have been offended if she saw something like this happen to somebody else."

Michael added: "My father is 90 and not very well, so I tried to keep him away because it would have distressed him.

"I made up an excuse so he didn't see what was happening. But he was very upset by the fact he couldn't go and visit his wife."

The Daily Echo contacted St John Church for a comment.

A volunteer at the church said they believe the situation is absolutely dreadful and are appalled by what happened.

They insisted nothing like this had happened before and maintained that the fault was with the person who dug the grave, but they could not confirm who this was.

They added: "As volunteers, we work very hard to run and maintain our big churchyard."