A woman whose father's body had to be exhumed from a cherished plot so her mother could be buried beside him has failed to enlist a judge's support in her fight with her local parish council.

Mary McKallin, of Holly Close, Bretforton, told the High Court of her horror as - on the day of her mum's funeral - the remains of a long-dead mystery man were uncovered in the plot reserved by her mother years previously so she could rest beside her beloved husband.

The court heard how the family matriarch, Florence Witts, purchased the two plots - one for her and one for her husband, Harry - upon his death in 1997.

Following the discovery of the mysterious remains - said to originate from World War Two - Mrs McKallin said the family were presented with a stark choice by Bretforton Parish Council.

They were told they would either have to have their mother cremated or exhume their father and re-bury him in a fresh plot so his newly dead wife could lie alongside him.

The council refused to hand the family the deeds to the new plots unless they returned those for the previous grave sites - a decision Mrs McKallin and other family members this week challenged at London's High Court.

Mrs McKallin explained in her written statement: "We simply wanted to retain the (original) plots because my father was buried there and it was such an important place for my mother."

However, after a brief hearing, Deputy Judge Andrew Nicol QC said the council had offered to keep Mr Witts' former resting place empty and dismissed Mrs McKallin's judicial review challenge to the parish council's stance.

The judge added: "Given this offer by the council, the family could have achieved the substance of what they wished by accepting these proposals. There is no good reason why they should not."

The judge said he sympathised with the family's plight and the agony they endured when the mystery corpse was found just an hour before Mrs Witts was due to be buried in December 2003.

Mrs McKallin had told the court that the original grave plots had been dear to her mother who had visited her husband's grave weekly - "sometimes in great pain" - and had set her heart on lying alongside him.

She added: "Our father had to be exhumed and re-buried. This was distressing for us all.

"We are very upset that the Parish Council seem to think that they can simply take away what we regard as the family plots.

"The cause of all this stress is the failure to identify that one plot contained human remains.

"We do not understand how this could have happened. That burial should have been recorded."

None of the family were present at the High Court hearing.

Afterwards parish council clerk Hazel Mitchell said: "We have not been officially notified of the outcome of the hearing.

"It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage."