The family of an elderly Co Down man have been told that his final wishes to be laid to rest with his beloved wife and infant son will not be fulfilled because of new burial regulations.
Bangor man Campbell Mullholland, who was 94, died on February 2.
He had wanted to be be laid to rest with his wife, Peggy, who died in 2003 and the couple's son, Kenneth, who passed away age five months.
Mr Mulholland bought the family plot - big enough to hold four coffins - following Kenneth's death in 1967.
However, burial regulations changed in 1992 and it is now required that there is 6ft between coffins and 28 inches above the final coffin in the grave.
An official at Ards and North Down Borough Council said Mr Mullholland's grave only allowed for another 3ft 9in and a coffin measuring 15 inches would not adhere to regulations.
As a result, following a funeral service, Mr Mulholland's remains were taken in a coffin to a morgue where they remain.
Mr Mulholland's niece, Donna Cole said the family were informed that her uncle, who paid for his funeral in 2012, could not be buried in the plot in Clandeboye Cemetery the day before his funeral.
"He's lying alone in a coffin in a morgue. It’s undignified, unfair and unnecessary,” she told Belfast Live.
A spokeswoman for Ards and North Down council said: “All councils in Northern Ireland are bound by the Burial Ground Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992, which detail strict guidance in terms of the functions of a council in relation to its burial grounds.
"Regrettably, by law we do not have any leeway around this legislation and as such must abide by these Regulations."
