Funeral director Paul Cuthell stood at the desolate graveside and said a few prayers for the 90-year-old Covid-19 victim who had just been laid to rest.
Paul had buried the man's wife 20 years earlier and the deceased's only living relatives were two cousins in their 70s who couldn't make the burial because they were self-isolating. “It was heart-rending,” said Paul, who runs a business in central Scotland. “The only people in attendance were myself, a colleague and three cemetery staff.
I felt I couldn't walk away without saying a few words and a prayer in thanks for his life.” Three hundred and fifty miles away in Leicestershire two hearses reverse into a driveway of a house on a quiet street.