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Gran 'scared to death' as grave-robbing badgers dump human skull and bones in her garden

At one point her home was sealed off by police as a potential crime scene

By Adam Dutton

12:58, 21 JUL 2022

An elderly gran was left spooked after a human skull and dozens of bones were dumped in her garden by grave-wrecking badgers. Ann Mathers, 88, called police after making the grim discovery which also saw several femurs and jaw bones scattered in her flowerbeds.

The gran, who has lived in her end terrace house in Dudley, West Midlands, for more than 60 years, was said to be “scared to death” by the grave-robbing critters. She first found the skull last July and called police who initially sealed her home off as a potential crime scene.

Officers then discovered the culprit was a colony of badgers dragging the remains into her garden from a nearby cemetery. It emerged the animals were getting access to the graveyard via a public footpath running between the cemetery and Ann’s house.

Her family have appealed to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for help but they can only relocate the badgers when this year’s breeding season is over. Ann’s daughter Lorraine Lloyd, 60, said: “This problem has been going on for a year now and my mum is just sick of it.

“The badgers are tunnelling under the graves and when they come across one which has collapsed they drag the bones out and dump them in mum’s garden. They are basically fly-tipping human remains all over my mum’s lawn and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Ann, whose home backs onto the graveyard at Providence Baptist Church, first noticed bones being left outside her home last year.

Lorraine, a civil servant, added: “I was on holiday when my mum called me in hysterics saying she’d found a human skull in the bushes. I didn’t know what on earth was going on but when I went over there I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“There were human remains everywhere. We called police and they sealed it off as a crime scene. I don’t know if they thought it could be a possible murder victim but pretty soon they found lots of holes in the garden where the badgers had been digging through.”


One of the bones dumped in the garden by the badgers

Lorraine, who has three children and lives near her mum in Dudley, said her mum has found numerous bones over the last 12 months.

She said: “Behind my mum’s house is a gully and then it’s the graveyard. One night she came down and found seven badgers on her lawn. She just wants the badgers gone but apparently the council can’t move them until the breeding season is over.

“It must be very distressing for people if they found their relatives remains were being dug up.”

Councillor Shaz Saleem, cabinet member for highways, said: "As badgers are a protected species, we are in the process of obtaining the services of a qualified ecologist to help us further.”

Councillor Adam Aston, who represents the Woodsetton Ward, said: “I work as a paramedic so I’m not easily shocked, but the sight of so many human remains within the public right of way and in people’s back gardens stopped me in my tracks. I hope urgent work can now be undertaken to strengthen the boundary with the churchyard and prevent any further burrowing into the public area.

"We completely understand that badgers have a protected status in law, particularly in the breeding season and the council finds itself in a difficult position but we hope this disrespectful situation can be resolved and the right of way re-opened for public use, it is quite distressing for our constituents.”

*Knock, knock*

RSPCA West Midlands:
Its breeding season. Show us the badgers.

Ann Mathers' grandson, hiding slingshot behind back:
Badgers? We don't got no badgers. I don't have to show you any stinking badgers!!!

Makes for a great Halloween display!

medic451: