Five graves in the graveyard had been undermined by a badgers’ sett, which had collapsed during heavy autumnal rain. The sett was protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, and any action which might interfere with the sett could only be undertaken under licence; but the engagement of a suitably qualified ecology protection group meant that a licence was not required in this case.

The petitioners sought the exhumation of the buried remains and their re-interment elsewhere in the churchyard. The families of all five consented to the petition. The court was satisfied that the circumstances were exceptional within the meaning of re Blagdon Cemetery [2002] Fam 299. A faculty was accordingly issued. [DW]