Criminals have been ordered to clean the graves of 150 fallen soldiers in Sandwell, it was revealed today.

War graves will be tidied up by offenders in Smethwick, Wednesbury and Blackheath as part of the controversial Community Payback scheme. Those who died in the First and Second World Wars are buried in the graves.

Offenders in Sandwell will be tidying up war graves in cemeteries across the borough as part of the probation service’s Community Payback scheme.

It is a partnership between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Community Payback and will see supervised low risk offenders help with the upkeep at Uplands Cemetery in Smethwick, Fallings Heath cemetery in Wednesbury and St Paul’s cemetery in Blackheath.

Graham Kimberlin, secretary of Blackheath British Legion, said: “Giving it a clean up won’t do it any harm as far as the legion is concerned.

“They might as well be doing something useful which helps out the community. As far as I’m concerned it would be most welcome for them to clean the graves up of ex-servicemen. I’ve got no objections whatsoever.”

Martin Walton, Sandwell Community Payback unit manager, said: “We’ve been asked to focus on three sites, Uplands which has over 100 war graves, Wednesbury which has around 43 and Blackheath which has about 14.”