A top barrister has won a dispute with villagers over reserving grave space in a churchyard - despite their claims that he never came to church.

John and Heather Jones applied to be buried in St Wilfrid's churchyard in Standish, near Wigan, despite living five miles away, outside the parish.

Locals objected to the reservation, saying that Mr Jones did not attend the church as much as he claimed and that there was a policy against reserving spaces in the churchyard.

Many of them said they would like to have reserved spaces themselves, but had not done so because they believed the rules did not allow it.