The council said some headstones were unsafe

Families thought the graves had been vandalised, only to be told they had been flattened by Stockport Council because it felt they were unsafe.

Many of them only found out after going to visit the graves on Mothering Sunday or Easter Sunday this year.

At a meeting on Thursday night, they demanded to be told why the council had acted in this way and why it had not told them in advance.

Two witnesses cried while giving evidence to the inquiry, which was also told that a 1,400-name petition had been gathered protesting at the council's actions.

We must be one of the highest-rated councils in the country and we must have about the lousiest services in the country Alan Blackburn, Stockport

Margaret Shaw, of Romiley, said: "Our point was that our brother lives in the same house that he's lived in for the past 40 years.

"My mother died in 1958. So why were we not told before it happened?

"That's what made me angry. I feel I've been treated badly."

Another relative, Alan Blackburn, said: "I feel let down, absolutely.

"We must be one of the highest rated councils in the country and we must have about the lousiest services in the country."

Push test

The council has already apologised publicly and said it took action to make headstones in its graveyards safer after it was written to by the Health and Safety Executive.

It decided to test the headstones with a simple push test.

Those that fell over were left in place, but some of them were broken in the process.

The authority's parks and recreations manager, Nigel Boswell, has been suspended by the council, but it has refused to confirm whether or not it is in connection with this issue.