April 15th 2024.
Susanna Vaughan is on a mission. She wants to know where her father's body went. It may seem like a simple question, but for Susanna, it holds a lot of significance. You see, one of her most treasured possessions is a photograph of her father's grave in Westbury Cemetery, Barbados. In the picture, Susanna is seen crouching in the Caribbean sunshine, placing flowers on her father's grave. It was a moment of closure, a moment of peace. But little did she know, that would be the last time she would see her father's resting place.
Joseph James Alfred Lynch, Susanna's father, had moved to Barbados 25 years ago after retiring as a police officer. He and his wife, Greta, wanted to spend their final years in the warm and sunny Caribbean. Before that, they had lived in Essex, where they raised their five children. Susanna fondly remembers her upbringing, with her father's job as a police officer and her mother's as a hospital matron, it was a disciplined household. She went to a convent girls school in Basildon and later became a nurse. She got married and had two sons, and life was good for all of them.
But everything changed when Joseph fell ill in 2014. A sudden diagnosis of prostate cancer led to his passing on November 20. Susanna, who was working in the prison service at the time, rushed to catch a flight to Barbados with her brother Roy. Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time to say goodbye. The funeral was held on December 5, 2014, and the family had requested a motorcycle escort to accompany Joseph's final journey to Westbury Cemetery, a ten-minute drive from his home on Government Hill. However, due to a slow response from the Barbados authorities, the escort was unable to proceed. Despite this, the family came together to honor and celebrate Joseph's life with music, food, and friends at his funeral.
Over the years, whenever family members visited Joseph's grave at Westbury Cemetery, they would leave a memento, such as flowers or a plaque. But in August of 2022, when Susanna returned to Barbados with her husband Brian, she was met with a shocking discovery. As they walked over the grass at Westbury Cemetery, they realized something was very wrong. The grave was gone. The wooden cross that Joseph's grandchildren had made, the plaque they had left, everything was gone. It was as if her father had never been buried there.
After searching for answers, Susanna and her husband eventually found a staff member who informed them that the graves at the cemetery had been dug up and the bodies moved into a large "bone hole" of bones and body parts. This practice of "recycling" bodies into a mass grave is common in countries like Singapore, Germany, and Belgium. However, Susanna and her family were never warned about this practice, and neither were the locals they spoke to.
The news was devastating for Susanna. She couldn't find the words to explain how she felt when she found out her father was in that bone hole. It was a nightmare. Her father had wanted to be buried in the place he loved, and they had so many happy memories in Barbados, but now it was all just a nightmare. She took photos of the bone hole that looked more like a landfill, with bones, skulls, and clothing sticking out of the ground. There was no respect for the loved ones who were dug up and thrown into this bone hole without their families being informed.
Susanna and her family were not warned about this practice, and after facing closed doors in Barbados, she returned to the UK and reached out to politicians and authorities for answers. She also posted about her situation on social media, and many people, including Bajans, responded, shocked that this was happening. Susanna believes that the bone hole policy needs to change, and she won't stop fighting until she gets justice for her father and all the other families who have been affected by this practice.
The Barbados government, the Barbados High Commission in London, and Prime Minister Mia Mottley have been contacted for comments on this issue. Susanna's story has caught the attention of many, including Gillingham North councillor Adam Price, who felt it was his duty to help her. He commended her for championing this cause and bringing attention to the failure of authorities in Barbados to communicate their policy of digging up loved ones' remains after five years.
Susanna's mother, Greta, still lives on Barbados, but now she has no grave to visit for her late husband. The family feels like they have been forced to grieve all over again. If they had known this would happen, they would have chosen to cremate Joseph and take his ashes back to England. Susanna believes that the bone hole system discriminates against the poor, and she wants the government to give families the option to cremate and explain the possibility of their loved one's remains being moved to a mass grave. She won't stop until she gets answers, and she hopes that her efforts will bring closure to her family and prevent this from happening to anyone else.
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