Labour-run council revealed to be behind desecration of churchyard graves

They posted photos of the affected headstones to social media and urged anyone with video footage to come forward.

"This is a very sad post. Our churchyard has been vandalised - affecting 25 of the gravestones," the Facebook post read.

"The police have been notified, and we have a crime number.

"Unfortunately, they are not able to do anything without further information.

"So we are asking if anyone saw anything or has doorbell footage of what happened."

The headstones were believed to have been moved between October 27 and October 30.

Some were left needing to be replaced.

The council then contacted the church to say an inspection had been carried out and a "number of memorials were identified as unsafe".

The local authority said its workers had taken "immediate precautionary measures by carefully laying these memorials flat".

The church claimed it did not give permission for the inspection and had not received any prior warning.

"They did not advise the families and they did not advise the Vicar," it stated.

"They only telephoned Reverend Denise because of the social media outrage.

"Whilst we are extremely relieved that this was not vandalism, we feel that the distress and anger should have been anticipated and the families should have been notified.

"We apologise for the distress this has caused to the families and local community."

Tameside Council confirmed it was "standard practice to communicate with churches ahead of inspections" and apologised for "distress" caused.

It said: "We sincerely apologise to the church, and affected families for not providing prior notice on this occasion - we understand the distress this may have caused and have since been in contact with Reverend Owen.

"A follow-up visit is planned to reinstate the memorials with temporary supports."