A WIDOWER has taken his fight to give his wife the gravestone she wanted to Ryedale MP John Greenway.

Sam Smith, 71, of Strensall, has been locked in battle with Strensall and Towthorpe Parish Council over his wife Mary's headstone.

Last month, The Press reported on the dispute, which began when Mr Smith was told he could not carry out Mary's dying wish to erect a polished black marble headstone at her grave.

Despite a number of the headstones already being in place in the overspill graveyard of St Mary's Church, in Strensall, the council has told him they fall foul of their regulations.

Now Mr Greenway has stepped into the fray.

Mr Greenway has written to parish council chairman, Peter Jesse, asking him to explain the council's decision to refuse Mr Smith permission to erect the headstone.

"Mr Smith is understandably very upset about this," he said.

"These are very sensitive issues and I've asked the parish council chairman, Peter Jesse, to let me know how the parish council feels about this and whether the decision can be reviewed."

Mary died in April, aged 58.

Speaking in October, Mr Smith said: "I woke up at ten to five in the morning with her dead in bed next to me.

"And then, about four hours after I'd found my wife, I was given an interment form to sign.

"Obviously, I didn't read it because I was in a total state of shock. I can't even read my own signature on the form."

Mr Smith was later told that by signing the interment form, he had agreed to a headstone within the council's rules - which ban the type his wife wanted.

Speaking today about Mr Greenway's intervention, he said: "I've given him my support and I thought it was time I got some support from him.

"I hope common sense prevails, because it's ridiculous.

"The rules on black headstones are not meant for this cemetery, they were for the old churchyard, so that headstones didn't class with the Yorkshire stone of the graves or the church.

"But this cemetery is more than a mile from the church."