AN elderly widow from Wallasey faced a repair bill for hundreds of pounds after workers at a Wirral cemetery damaged her husband’s grave.

When Margaret Dunne visited the grave of her husband Terence at Landican cemetery in Arrowe Park a few weeks ago, she was horrified to see that two glass vases worth hundreds of pounds had been damaged, along with other items of sentimental value, and red and white marble stones had been disturbed. The heads of two ornamental angels and a horse's head had also been snapped off.

A spokesman for Wirral council said workers opening up a nearby grave had accidentally caused the damage and an offer to replace the items had been made to Mrs Dunne.

But an upset Mrs Dunne, aged 71, whose father-in-law is also buried at the cemetery, told the Globe: "I think it's terrible that this has happened.

"Whoever did this just made the mess and walked away. I want to know how and why the grave was damaged. My brother told me that the grave had been damaged.

"It's going to cost me a lot of money to replace them. Some of the ornaments had been brought from abroad, so it’ll be almost impossible to replace them."

A council spokesman told the Globe: "They had to open a grave nearby and unfortunately, during this work a vase and horse figurines were damaged.

"The items had been glued onto the headstone. We have since done all we can to replace, amend and make safe the grave.

"All figurines have been attached and we've offered sincere apologies to Mrs Dunne. We've also offered to replace or reimburse for any damage."