Tottenham: Families upset after graves are wrapped in tape

Families of those buried in a north London cemetery said graves had been "desecrated" after red and white tape was wrapped around them.

The private owners of Tottenham Park Cemetery said they were "clearing unsafe broken memorial stones" and "chasing up owners of graves whose licences are due to expire".

But families said it had caused "upset and anguish".

Enfield Council said the situation was "unacceptable".

A council spokesperson said: "Enfield Council is extremely distressed by reports from residents regarding the desecration of existing graves, and the failure to receive burial records for several years.

"There have been two statutory inspections in the past four years, with both stating that the cemetery is full and recommending the closure of the site to new burials. Despite this, it has been reported that there have been over 250 new burials since 2019."

Concerns over the cemetery were also raised by Tottenham Park Cemetery Action Group.

Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece, a Liberal Democrat peer and member of the group, said many people could not afford to pay "thousands of pounds" to replace the memorials.

She said the owners were "not being respectful to families".

Tottenham Park Cemetery is said to be one of the largest Turkish burial grounds in the UK.

Enfield Council attempted to buy it earlier this year to bring it into public ownership, but the offer was rejected. It was subsequently sold to British Turkish businessmen Mustafa Dari and Ersin Savas.

Responding to the comments, Mr Dari claimed his and Mr Savas' actions had been "misrepresented".

Inspections ordered by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) concluded that the cemetery was full and burials should only be allowed in reserved plots, but Mr Dari said new graves had been found due to aerial mapping.

The MoJ said it was monitoring the situation at the cemetery "very closely" and it continued to engage with the owners and local community.

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