A world-renowned exhumer set to remove bodies from graves ‘under water’ at Ayr Cemetery believes his work can end families’ suffering.
Peter Mitchell says he will treat each of the deceased as if they were his own as he made a heartfelt promise to carry out the unique works with ‘respect and care’.
The chief exhumer will bring more than 35 years of experience to the job when he begins to exhume 126 bodies from the extension of South Ayrshire's largest burial ground.
The top specialist will be joined by just a small team of three who will take the utmost care when handling loved ones.
In an exclusive interview with Ayrshire Live at County Buildings in Ayr, Mr Mitchell has revealed the delicate nature of the works as he seeks to reassure worried families.
He said: “In essence, this project is all about care and respect and treating each person as an individual and doing what the family wish to be done.
“We are going to treat each deceased as if they were our own, and in doing this, I think we are going to help ease the pain that the families feel.”
Although he will be a long way from his Kent home – exactly 500 miles away – the top exhumer will be on familiar land having travelled across the globe to exhume bodies, visiting burial grounds in Egypt and Indonesia along the way.
The sought-after expert also oversaw a major project to remove 15,000 bodies from St Pancras in London during the completion of a new train station.
Each job to remove the deceased has proven to be complex.
But in Ayr, he has arrived in the eye of a storm with families distraught after months of prolonged agony.
Mr Mitchell continued: “Where this project differs is the fact that these people have all died relatively recently, we have bereaved families who are still in pain from their bereavement, and who would never have dreamt it would be necessary or desirable to exhume their loved one.
"It's not something that they want to happen and it's very distressing to even contemplate that your loved one is going to moved.
“It is also very distressing to think that your loved one is potentially submerged in water. That is the key difference between this and many other exhumations and projects.”
Mr Mitchell is spending two weeks speaking to distraught families to explain the process and preparing the site with a welfare portable building set to be installed; a skip for general waste and tanks to store water when it is pumped out of each grave.
The area will be transformed into a ‘construction site’ as work goes on six days a week with each chamber dealt with individually.
Despite calls from families who want to be there when their loved ones are exhumed, Mr Mitchell is adamant that no one can be present at the site.
He said: “I’ve worked with a lot people and I’ve undertaken a lot of exhumations and it is better for them not to come for their own wellbeing but also from a health and safety perspective. We’re trying to do a job and we need to have space to do it.
“A reason might be that they want to see I’m treating their loved one with care and respect.
“And other people have expressed to me, 'is it really going to be my loved one that will be put back in their chamber or am I going to mix them up with someone else?’
“People must accept my guarantee as a professional person with some amount of experience in this field.
“That yes, I will treat their loved one with the greatest respect possible and I certainly will not mix anybody up at all.”
The exhumation works at Ayr Cemetery are expected to run throughout the summer with Mr Mitchell keen to make use of the ‘drier months’.
But he fears delays to the works could be a possibility with not every family responding to the council's plea for permission from families to have their loved ones exhumed.
He added: “We need the sheriff's permission to exhume bodies so we need to know for all of the vaults who is prepared to give their consent in writing to the exhumation
“The council is reaching out to all of the families, many have responded, we are meeting families and that is fine. But we’ve not heard from quite a few families.
“We need to get through that period and we are communicating with everybody and get the correct legal authority to do the works.”
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