A couple who have been together for 73 years have been forced to say goodbye after being sent to live in separate care homes.

Audrey and Herbert Goodine have been married for 69 years, having spent the last three of those in a care home together in New Brunswick, Canada. However, Herbert recently underwent a medical assessment that said he had to be moved to a different care home 45 minutes away. The couple's daughter, Dianne, took to Facebook to share images of the pair as they said goodbye and to criticise the home's decision to let them be apart. She wrote that separating her parents the week before Christmas was "cold and cruel."

"My parents have been together for a total of 73 years and still sleep in the same bed. "I feel people need to know what a flawed system we have in place. Two words describe it "unethical and cruel". "When talking to my parents yesterday I listened to my mother weep and I could hear my father in the background. "My mother said 'Christmas is over for us now and this is the worst Christmas that we will ever have. Why could they not have waited till after the holidays.'"

Dianne said that she realises that her dad needs special care, but that she still doesn't understand how something like this could happen so close to Christmas.

"My father may have needs, however, like any other citizen he has the right to enjoy his life and spending this season with his wife was part of that."

She also said that the photos she included in the post looked more like "punishment" than Christmas. Dianne's posts have been shared almost 25,000 times, with people sympathising with the couple's situation.