A CHURCH judge in Oxfordshire said he was concerned to learn that bodies in cemeteries were being secretly moved to correct for burial mistakes.

Alexander McGregor warned that he would contact the police if he ever became aware of specific instances of the practice in his jurisdiction.

Mr McGregor, who is Chancellor for the Oxford Diocese, made his comments in a Church Consistory Court ruling over a burial mistake in Henley.

In the case in question, a body was accidentally buried in a plot which had been reserved by another family at Fairmile Cemetery, northwest of Henley.

In this case Mr McGregor ruled the practice, known as ‘sliding’, had not taken place. But in his judgement he said: “I was concerned to learn that the relocation of... remains without lawful authority in the form of a faculty had been proposed by the then town clerk.

“I was even more concerned to hear in evidence from [Henley town clerk Janet Wheeler] that... the practice referred to as ‘sliding’ was one she was aware of being used in other cemeteries to correct mistakes, albeit not a practice she herself would ever resort to. Such unlawful action by a burial authority is to be deprecated.

“Should cases of this happening become known to the court, I shall instruct the Registrar to report the matter both to the Archdeacon with a view to appropriate steps being taken to enforce ecclesiastical law, and to the police with a view to their investigating whether a criminal offence has been committed.”