Family graves battle boost

Mourners fighting controversial topple tests on gravestones in South Staffordshire have won a partial victory after council bosses bowed to pressure to remove unsightly yellow tape.

More than 1,000 people petitioned South Staffordshire District Council to end the tests on gravestones in Wombourne amid concerns officials were applying too much pressure.

Almost half of the headstones in St Benedict Biscop churchyard have failed tests and have been propped up with wooden stakes. The graves were then surrounded by yellow tape warning the stones would be laid flat if families did not make them safe.

Marj Sutton, aged 63, told today how the tape had now been removed, although the stakes remain. Mrs Sutton, whose parents John and Emily Corns and whose father's 10 brothers are buried in the graveyard, said: "This is a wonderful Christmas present."

The council insists the work has been carried out respectfully in line with government guidelines.