The parents of an eight-year-old boy who died suddenly say a council has forced them into putting up a headstone they do not want.
Charlie Morettes collapsed and died from sudden cardiac death while playing rounders at his school in Sutton-at-Hone on May 16 last year.
His mother and stepfather, Allison and Tony Spalding, wanted to put up a headstone featuring a granite statue of Barton Simpson – Charlie’s favourite TV character.
But Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley Parish Council, which owns the graveyard at St John the Baptist Church, Sutton-at-Hone, where Charlie is buried, rejected the plan.
This has led the Spalding’s to submit plans for a plain granite headstone.
Mrs Spalding, 34, of Cedar Drive, Sutton-at-Hone, said: “It’s upsetting because it is not what we wanted.
“But we cannot keep going through the pain of fighting for the headstone we want and not having one in place for Charlie.”
Her 34-year-old husband says they are ‘disgusted’ with the parish council.
He said: “We feel we have been forced into putting up a headstone we don’t want.”
Councillors rejected the Bart Simpson design by four votes to three at a meeting on June 19 despite receiving a petition in favour of it with 500 signatures from residents.
Parish council chairman Councillor Chris Armstrong said: “The members did not feel it was an appropriate image to have in a consecrated churchyard.”
Last Thursday the Spalding’s submitted plans for the conventional headstone as they want it to be accepted quickly by the council.
This is because Charlie’s grave has been without a headstone since he was buried in June last year.
The parish council will decide whether to accept the new plans for the headstone at a meeting in September.
Mr and Mrs Spalding are still honouring Charlie in their own way by raising money to prevent other children dying from sudden cardiac death.
They set up Charlie’s Memorial Fund in June last year as part of the national charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
The charity raises awareness of the condition which lead to sudden cardiac death in young people.
And CRY also carries out medical research.
So far the Spalding’s have raised more than £40,000 with help from friends and family.
On Sunday they raised more than £1,500 for CRY when they took part in a sponsored walk across London.
Around 650 people took part, crossing eight bridges to represent the average of eight children who are killed by sudden cardiac death in the UK each week.
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