WORKMEN chopped branches from a beloved tree hanging above the grave of a cancer campaigner — and binned lanterns left in her memory by her grief-stricken family.

Judith McGuinness — who lost her battle to bowel cancer, aged 54, in June last year — had hand-picked her own plot beneath the oak tree in Horwich cemetery.

And on the anniversary of her death, her husband Alan and son Jake hung three lanterns from the tree, and returned every night to light them and say goodnight to Judith.

But following a trip away, Mr McGuinness was told by a friend the lanterns had been thrown away, and that workmen had chopped down a branch to stop them hanging any more items.

Bolton Council chiefs have now apologised to the 54-year-old and vowed to change their procedures. The grandfather said he was shocked to find the lanterns and branch gone without anyone informing him directly. He said: “Lighting the lanterns has been part of our grieving process and I feel like her grave has been desecrated. It’s only been a year since she died, she was only 54. She herself chose that plot because it was directly under the tree.

“She was very meticulous about her death, about what she wanted, and I see that as my job now. The tree and the lanterns were part and parcel of how we would celebrate her life. She would say to me: ‘Don’t let me die, don’t let me disappear to nothing’.

“This would have broken my wife’s heart. To not only take the lanterns down but to cut off the branch too feels very childlike. This has absolutely cut me.” Before her death Mrs McGuinness had campaigned for greater awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer.

She kept a blog about her illness, which appeared in The Bolton News.

The council’s assistant director for community services, Donna Ball, said: “We are deeply sorry for Mr McGuinness’ loss. I have met him and personally apologised for the for the way we dealt with the removal of the items and any upset that we have caused to him and his family.

“We do have to carefully balance the wishes of grave owners and visitors, which is why guidelines are in place around what can be placed on and around graves. However, it’s clear that some work is needed to ensure what happened in this instance is dealt with differently in the future.

“We should have spoken to Mr McGuinness before removing the memorial, and Mr McGuinness and I have talked through how we can do things differently to meet the needs of grieving families in the future.”