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A man discovered he'd been grieving for his daughter at the wrong grave for 30 years after a mistake was made with the headstone.

It had been moved in error in the 1980s to an empty spot - but the mistake was only realised this year.

George Salt found out by seeing that the gravestone, which also has 17 other names on it, had been taken from its place at Southern Cemetery in Manchester, the BBC reports.

When cemetery workers discovered the error by checking the grave records, they moved it to the right spot.

George said he felt "devastated," "let down" and "gobsmacked" by the mix up.

Manchester City Council has apologised for his distress.

George's little girl Victoria sadly died less than two days after she was born prematurely in 1988.

He has visited the grave with flowers two times a year for the last three decades, on the anniversary of her death and at Christmas.

George told the BBC: "I looked down and was completely gobsmacked - I thought 'where's the stone gone?'.

"I just wasn't told.

"When you go to a grave, you sit and talk and say what your troubles are but the annoying thing is you're talking to a piece of ground where she isn't there."

He told Mirror Online: "It's devastating. My first child.

"I had planted bulbs around the grave and made it look nice."

He claimed he had suspected the headstone was put in the wrong place at the time but when he questioned it he says he was reassured it was in the right place.

The council told the BBC they accepted something had gone wrong in the eighties and said they had apologised to George.

Cllr Luthfur Rahman, Manchester City Council’s executive member for culture and leisure, told Mirror Online: “We completely understand Mr Salt’s distress and we would like to extend our sincere apologies for any upset caused.

"There are more than 200,000 graves at Southern Cemetery and we strive to ensure the plots are well looked after.

"The public grave had not been disturbed for around 30 years so it is unclear why the headstone had at some point during that period been moved to a vacant plot close by.

"The headstone was returned to its correct location earlier this year.”