A mother is devestated after council chiefs removed her deceased son’s star-shaped headstone following a complaint from another family who claimed it wasn’t “in keeping” with the rest of the cemetery.

Jo Corbett’s son Max was born with a number of health issues, the most severe of which was epilepsy. Tragically, at just 4 years old, Max surrendered to the complications of his illnesses and passed away, leaving his mother and siblings heartbroken.

For three years, Jo saved up her money so that she could purchase a special headstone for Max’s grave, and she was thrilled with the final result. However, not long after it was installed, she got some shocking news…

Although her son Max’s life was a very short and difficult one, that didn’t stop his mother Jo from giving him the happiest and most comfortable life that she could. 

Jo would take him for long walks around Malvern, and even though Max couldn’t vocalize his emotions, she knew he loved being outdoors. He always had a smile on his face and a positive demeanor.  Jo made sure every one of Max’s birthdays was as special as possible because she never knew if it would be his last. Not long after Max and Jo celebrated his fourth birthday, tragedy struck…

Max passed away from complications of his epilepsy. Jo was heartbroken, and she needed to honor her son appropriately. She had him buried in the Malvern Town Cemetery. However, problems would soon arise…

All of Jo’s friends and family gave her beautiful gifts with which to decorate Max’s plot. He truly was a special boy, and one look at his cemetery plot told you he was loved by many. However, something was missing…

Jo needed a headstone to complete Max’s grave. She didn’t want an ordinary headstone, though. She had been saving up money for three years after Max’s death for something special to symbolize his life. She hired a mason and told him what she wanted. He got to work immediately, and soon enough, she had the perfect headstone waiting for her…

It was a specially-made headstone of a bear holding a star! She was so pleased with the end result and had it put up right before what would have been his seventh birthday. However, not everybody was happy with Max’s new headstone…

Three days later, the headstone was removed from Great Malvern Cemetery by council chiefs in Worcestershire.

“It would have been Max's seventh birthday on the Sunday, and this was like a birthday present to him from me,” Corbett-Weeks, who has two other children ages 16 and 5, told BBC. “I chose a star-shaped stone because I wanted something suitable for Max - something personal.

“This stone is just so perfect for my poor little chap," she added.

A single family had complained to the Malvern Town Council that the headstone was not “in keeping” with the rest of the cemetery. Corbett-Weeks says the stone was then removed without her knowledge or consent and she is demanding that it be reinstated.

“I was totally unaware this was going on. The council did not contact me and it was the stonemason who told me he'd been ordered to remove it,” Corbett-Weeks explained. “I feel upset, distressed and angry. We have been through so much as a family. I could understand if the grave was uncared for or unsightly, but it isn't.

“The headstone meant a lot to me and the family but now we are fighting to have it put back," she said. "It's a horrible situation. We just want to have somewhere to grieve.”
The memorial was placed in the adult area of the cemetery, where Corbett-Weeks had her son buried so that he could be close to other family members.

The council said that if the application for the stone had been received within the usual time frame, they would not have given the stonemason permission to install it in the first place. They added that had the star-shaped headstone been installed at the children’s area of the cemetery, it would have been allowed.

“We have a conformity of shapes in our lawn cemetery. We were contacted by people who objected to the shape,” a Malvern Town Council spokesman explained to BBC. “The longer it stayed up, the harder the process would have been.
“It was a very difficult decision to remove it but one we had to make straight away," the spokesman said.

The council added that the complaint was not so much about the shape of the headstone as it was about following protocol.

'It wasn't necessarily an objection to the shape but why we appeared to be applying one rule to one family and other rules to another,” the spokesman continued. “The stonemason in this situation did not have permission to put the stone up - and the stone is not in keeping with the graves in that area.

“By not following the correct process he has caused considerable distress to both families," the spokesman concluded.

The council is arranging a meeting with Corbett-Weeks to discuss a new design for her son’s headstone.

Sources: Daily Mail, BBC / Photo Credit: BBC, worcestershirenews.co.uk