Grieving relatives were forced to walk past blood soaked grass and smeared walls at Helston Cemetery for almost a week after Cornwall Council failed to clean up after an incident.

The cemetery is designed to be a place of quiet reflection, where residents of the town can visit the graves of lost loved ones.

Instead, they were met with a scene of horror, with the side of the toilet block – situated right in the centre of the cemetery – smeared with bloodied hand prints and dark blood pooling in the grass below.

A plastic or metal marker lay in the centre of the grass, which may or may not have been related to the horrific scene.

It was reported to police on Tuesday last week after two workmen made the grisly discovery just after 11.40am.

Officers cordoned off the cemetery while they investigated a potential criminal incident.

However, they had soon linked the finding of the blood – which had begun to darken, suggesting it had been there for some days – to an incident involving a missing man the previous Saturday.

The 69-year-old, from the Helston area, had been found by a family member in the cemetery covered in blood at 6.40pm, 20 minutes after he was reported missing. He was subsequently confirmed found by police and taken to Truro’s Royal Cornwall Hospital for treatment.

A police spokesperson said this week that his injuries were not believed to be life threatening or life changing, but there were no further updates.

Questions have now been asked as to why Cornwall Council allowed the blood to remain in situ for at least five days, causing potential upset for relatives whose emotions would already be running high – not to mention the possible health and safety implications.