Mother wants baby's body exhumed

Baby Cameron was buried in Newark cemetery in 2001

A mother is applying to have her baby son's remains exhumed after his grave was vandalised over several years.

Karen Adams, 40, is asking the government for permission to have the body removed from Newark Cemetery.

Flowers, cards and ornaments have been stolen from the grave since baby Cameron was stillborn in 2001, said Mrs Adams, of Newark, Nottinghamshire.

A letter left at the grave said her baby did not deserve a proper burial, but should be in an unmarked grave.

Silk flowers

Mrs Adams, who has had two children since Cameron's death, said the vandalism is "like rubbing salt into a wound".

"For the past three year anything we put down gets taken - first an ornament and last Christmas some silk flowers were stolen," she said.

This is a menace for all sorts of bereaved people in Newark Newark MP Patrick Mercer

"I have gone to the local council - but all they say is: 'We are sorry - but there is nothing we can do'.

"They did agree to increase security at night but I think it is happening during the day," she said.

Mrs Adams has contacted Newark MP Patrick Mercer, who has written to the town council about the issue.

He said: "This is a menace for all sorts of bereaved people in Newark - but there is no easy solution and unfortunately we are chronically short of police."

"I am extremely sorry for her - as it is very distressing for her to lose a baby in the first place - and this will add to the intolerable situation she is in."

The funeral parlour, which is helping Mrs Adams apply for an exhumation, said that five years after the burial there might not be much left to retrieve.

She is considering cremation or burial at a woodland site if the exhumation is granted.

Mrs Adams said she feels the authorities are "hoping I will just go away" and adds that she is "fighting this battle on my own now".