PARENTS whose children are buried in a Gilwern cemetery yesterday accused the local council of desecrating their final resting-place.

Monmouthshire county council have been checking their cemeteries since last summer, when an elderly mourner at a funeral in Monmouth was slightly injured by a falling headstone.

Last Thursday council workmen laid flat about 60 headstones in Llanelly parish cemetery in Gilwern, including four belonging to local children.

One of these is that of Mark Parry, who died 31 years ago, aged 21 months.

His father, Steve, who lives with his wife, Rosemary, at Danycoed, Clydach, said: "The first I heard of this was when my brother, Ray, contacted me. Why didn't the council contact the relatives before the work was done?

"We would agree if the headstones were in a dangerous state, but they were not, and to desecrate the graveyard as they have is unforgivable. We have looked at other headstones and we found one which was tilting 85 degrees.

"What they have done in laying the stones on top of the graves is far more dangerous because people visiting the cemetery in the dusk could fall over them."

Another parent, also named Steve Parry, who lives in Malford Grove, Gilwern, found his 13-year-old daughter Charlotte's headstone had been laid flat.

She died suddenly 14 years ago from a nut allergy.

He said: "We were devastated when we saw Charlotte's grave. It was immaculate and the headstone was not dangerous.

"I believe they carried out the work without consulting the relatives because they didn't want confrontation. If I had been told I would have been there to stop them.

"I cannot believe the council has been so insensitive."

Monmouthshire county council said it sympathised with parents, but had to put people's safety first.

Tim MacDermott, the area manager responsible for cemeteries, said: "I fully understand the public's strength of feeling on this issue. My colleagues and I have witnessed people's distress and it is difficult not to be affected by this."

But he added the authority had no choice but to lay potentially unsafe gravestones flat.

* Pictured, Steve Parry beside two family graves on which the headstones have been laid flat as a safety precaution. With him at Gilwern Cemetery are members of other affected families