A widow is relieved after a parish council decided a headstone in tribute to her late husband could remain after all.

Angela Robinson, 67, from Farndon, had been told to remove the engravings of a Sudoku puzzle and a mathematical equation from the grave of her husband Allan, a retired mathematician, who died aged 66 in May 2012.

Farndon Parish Council said the grave breached the standards for its burial ground by St Chad's church after the stone mason failed to submit the design for approval. But after the story appeared in The Chronicle , news spread around the globe.

This week Mrs Robinson attended the parish council where she was delighted to hear the authority reverse its decision.

She said: “I’m really pleased it’s allowed to stay. It’s a personal tribute to Allan. He loved Sudoku and he loved anything to do with numbers, equations and maths – it was a bit of a mystery to me – but it was how he was. I thought this was the perfect tribute to him and it shouldn’t have gone as far as it did.”

Mrs Robinson, who would still like a written letter of apology from the council, added: “I’m not of an internet age but I’m still quite shocked that somebody in India or Canada or New Zealand can read about this. It’s just incredible and I was heartened by the support I received. There was one man from Derbyshire who wrote me a really good letter.

“I am very grateful to The Chronicle for publicising this because that was how it all started.”

Parish clerk Suzi Pollard confirmed the council had agreed the headstone could stay because it was felt Mrs Robinson should not suffer because of the stonemason’s error.

The parish council is to set up a working party to review burial ground regulations after chairman Cllr Martin Perry accepted its own procedure ‘hasn’t been robust’.