Badgers are causing havoc in an ancient churchyard by digging up the remains of people buried there for several hundred years.

And locals have been warned they can do nothing about it because the animals are a protected species.

At least four graves have been disturbed so far; in one instance a child found a leg bone and took it home to his parents.

It is illegal to kill badgers or destroy a sett, and attempts by the local parish council to have the badgers moved have been blocked by Natural England.

Instead, Rev Simon Shouler has been forced to carry out regular patrols to pick up stray bones, store them and re-inter them all in a new grave.

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