A bereaved father today said he would re-inter his daughter's body rather than remove items from her grave.

Mick Barnes, whose 18-year-old daughter Adele Barnes was buried at St Paul's churchyard, Drigh-lington, three years ago, has been ordered by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Wakefield, the Worshipful Peter Collier QC, to remove the chippings, gravel and edgings from her grave by the end of October.

Mr Barnes said: "I would rather move Adele's body to a different graveyard where my wife and I can have the grave we chose for Adele than remove the items.

"We are not hurting anybody, we just want to have a beautiful grave in a place where we can visit our precious daughter."

The notice to remove items from graves has also been sent to other families who had placed chippings, edgings and gravel on their loved one's graves.

Families failing to comply with the order in the time specified will have the items removed by the church.

In a letter to the families, Peter Collier QC said: "The items are contrary to the Diocesan Churchyard Regulations 1994."

He said the main reason for making the order to remove the items was that bereaved families who were keeping to the regulations were becoming very upset that others were disregarding them.

"I have responsibility to keep the balance between those two perspectives and to ensure that whilst those who have been bereaved must be given the opportunity to grieve their loss, that can never be at the expense of the wider community interest in the proper management of the whole churchyard - both for now and for posterity."

Mr Barnes, of Drighlington, said: "I see this as a complete disregard for Adele's life and our feelings. I don't understand why the church is sticking to the regulations. Why can't they just cut us a bit of slack?

"Have we not suffered enough already?"

The row erupted last year when the families were told to remove the items by the end of November 2005.

A petition was mounted by the relatives, and more than 1,000 signatures were collected requesting that the rules be reversed.

On receipt of the petition the church applied formally to the diocesan registry - its legal department - for permission to remove anything from the graves that do not comply with regulations.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Wakefield said: "Should Mr Barnes decide to exhume his daughter's body he would have to apply for permission to the Chancellor, who makes judgements on these matters."

e-mail: jennifer.sugden@bradford.newsquest.co.uk