Yet this was the fate that befell Dickens himself, according to the acting Dean of Rochester Philip Hesketh.

BBC: The empty grave of Charles Dickens

By the time the grave was ready to receive the body, Dickens's remains had been "whisked away", Mr Hesketh said.

BBC: The empty grave of Charles Dickens

''Unfortunately, the family I bought it from (Lord Hesketh) had sold the contents at auction earlier, '' he says puffing on a Marlboro Light cigarette.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

They had been protesting at a site in Hesketh Bank operated by energy firm Cuadrilla which was given a licence in 2008 to extract gas by pumping water, sand and chemicals into shale rock at pressure.

BBC: Hesketh Bank fracking rig protesters guilty of trespass

Trevor Kell, 35, a Protestant father of three, who had just started driving a taxi, was shot dead on Hesketh Road, off the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, as he stopped to pick up a fare on Tuesday night.

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The Victorian writer - whose fame had reached international proportions by the time he died of a stroke at his home in Higham in 1870 - had requested a simple funeral in the cemetery of the Kent cathedral, Mr Hesketh said.

BBC: The empty grave of Charles Dickens

The Environment Agency has issued an alert for the River Douglas from Parbold to where it merges with the River Ribble including Rufford, Mawdesley, Hesketh and Longton and the Crossens area which includes Ormskirk to Southport including, Banks, Birkdale, Brown Edge, Mere Brow and Scarisbrick.

BBC: Clean up operation in Lancashire after floods