'That's not my mum!' Horror as mother's body missing from funeral
You won’t believe this funeral fail: Horrifying moment a grieving daughter realised the WRONG body was in the casket during the service… and the director’s extraordinary response will leave you stunned
- Funeral service bring wrong body into funeral at Memorial Park, Adelaide
- Dianne De Jager reveals horror as she realised it was not her mother in the casket
- More than 100 people attended the funeral of Margaret Locke on August 1
- De Jager had to tell the funeral director six times: ‘That’s not my mum’
- The funeral service went ahead despite the wrong body being present
- Funeral directors have apologised, compensated the family involved
When Dianne De Jager arrived at her mother’s funeral and peered at her coffin she was stunned, gasping: ‘That’s not my mum!’
More than 100 people were set to farewell Margaret Locke on August 1 at Adelaide’s Enfield Memorial Park after she died aged 73.
But Locke never made it to her own funeral. As De Jager looked in the casket at the funeral service she found herself looking at a complete stranger.
On coming to the realisation it was the wrong body she was then left to convince the funeral director that it was definitely not her.
More than 100 people were set to farewell Margaret Locke (pictured) on August 1 at Enfield Memorial Park in Adelaide but Locke never made it to her own funeral
Dianne De Jager tells of the horror as she looked in the casket and realised ‘that’s not my mum’. She then had to convince the director they had the wrong body.
Ms De Jager told A Current Affair the whole ordeal made her feel sick and says the stranger’s face is now etched in her memory.
She told the funeral director it wasn’t her mother – with staff reportedly insisting it was definitely her.
In the heated exchange De Jager pulled out a photo of her mother on her deathbed to convince the director it was not her mother.
‘I said, “On the sixth time this is my f***ing mum, I know what my f***ing mum looks like” and then I got my phone and I got the picture up … and I showed him.
‘I zoomed the face in and I put it next to the lady in that coffin and I said, “That is not my mum”,’ De Jager said.
The director then apologised but suggested the funeral service continue on despite the wrong body being present.
The funeral of Margaret Locke (pictured) went ahead despite her body not being in the casket and the funeral director apologising
The decision to proceed with the funeral deeply distressed the family with Jesse Thatcher, Margaret’s grandson, saying the funeral should have been postponed so the service could’ve been held properly.
Clarke Family Funerals is the Adelaide-based company responsible for the error. In a statement, it said it had since come to agreement with the Locke family, compensating them for their ‘mistake’.
‘We have always strived to provide beautiful and respectful funerals that offer a lasting tribute but on Monday we fell well short of our own high standards,’ a statement to A Current Affair said.
‘We acknowledge the distress we have caused to the family by our error and sincerely apologise to them.
‘Our mistake was identified just prior to the commencement of the service. Due to the distance between our funeral home and the location of the service, together with the number of people attending, the decision was made to proceed with the service as planned rather than postpone.
‘This decision was made under the stress of the situation and on reflection we should have sought a different outcome.’
Clarke Family Funerals said since the mistake it has reviewed its processes and put in ‘appropriate safeguards and mechanisms’ to ensure what happened doesn’t occur again.
‘This situation is deeply regrettable, and we continue to offer our sincerest apologies to the family,’ it said.
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