More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A grieving family has been told to remove a temporary headstone marking a little boy's grave.
Earlier this month Disney told Ollie Jones' family they could not put a Spider-Man headstone at the four-year-old's grave in Maidstone Cemetery.
Since then the family has gained worldwide support as it fights to preserve Ollie's memory.
Ollie's dad Lloyd said: "We put up a temporary plastic grave last week. I loved it and I'm sure Ollie does too.
"The council told us to take it down as soon as they found out. They told us we couldn't have it."
Lloyd was speaking days after being released from hospital, after the father-of-six suffered with severe chest pains brought on by stress.
The Barming dad said: "I'm trying to take it a bit easier, I threw myself into work after Ollie died, now I think I need to slow down a bit."
In the past month the family has been gained attention from media in the US, Europe and Asia, all wanting to hear about Disney's refusal.
The media giant turned down the Jones' request, saying it wanted to "preserve the innocence" of its characters.
That's despite Marvel, which was bought out by Disney in 2009, giving its blessing for a drawing of Iron Man to appear on a child's headstone last year.
A US copyright lawyer has now contacted the family offering to take Disney on, pro-bono, to get Ollie's gravestone approved.
Mr Jones said: "My brother got a letter through from a lawyer. It says he has taken on Disney before and won.
"I don't know exactly how it all works, but it's nice there's all this support."
More than 140,000 people have signed a petition asking to Disney to reconsider, last week Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately made the same request.
Disney has not responded to the petition and would not explain to the Kent Messenger why it approved of the Iron Man headstone and not the Jones family's design.
A Maidstone Borough Council spokeswoman said: "Sadly, all types of headstones have to adhere to copyright and whilst we understand that this is a very emotional time for the family, we have asked them to remove it.
"Maidstone Borough Council Bereavement Services team will do everything they can to help the family."
