A NINE-year-old boy was brought back from the dead after a horror accident in a cemetery.

David Crossley, of Cog Lane, Burnley, remains in a critical condition after being crushed under a double-sized grave headstone weighing more than a quarter of a ton.

Witnesses report that David had stopped breathing and that there was no pulse when he was eventually dragged from beneath the stone.

His step-brother, Darren, desperately gave him the kiss of life.

Mrs Margaret Meeks, who was attending the grave of her sister, Christine Morris, buried only the day before after being killed in an accident with a van at her workplace, gave heart massage until paramedics arrived.

It was only after they had been at work on him for some time that David began to show faint signs of life.

The boys, with a number of friends, had set off to collect conkers. Insp Colin Barton said: "At about 2pm on Saturday one or more of the boys were sitting on a large upright gravestone right at the bottom of the cemetery when it toppled over on top of David.''

Three men visiting the cemetery, James Meeks and John Spencer of Burnley and Michael Pugh of Bolton, used brute force to lift the stone, pushing stone flower vases underneath to try to take some of the weight off the injured boy who was lying face down.

Mr Meeks used his mobile phone to call the emergency services.

He said: "At first we thought the lads were acting the goat. But one was crying saying there had been an accident.

"When I got closer I could see the boy trapped under the stone with one leg beneath him as though he had been trying to run clear.''

Mr Meeks described the old moss-covered stone as extremely heavy and said it was a great relief when his brother finally managed to pull him out.

"I could not find a pulse. His brother gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and Margaret tried heart massage. "We were very glad when the paramedics arrived. They were quickly on the scene and did a good job.'

The two ambulancemen had to run the best part of a quarter of a mile through the cemetery grounds to get to the scene of the accident because the Rossendale Road gates were chained and padlocked.

Firemen cut the gates open and one of the paramedics had then to run all the way back to get the ambulance down to the barely breathing boy. David's parents, Jean and Jack, have spent most of the weekend at the hospital along with other members of the family including his sister Heather, and grandma Amy Riley.

Mrs Riley said: "David loves football. He plays for his school, Hargher Clough, and also with the play centre team.

"Yesterday he had gone out collecting conkers, there is a bag full of them in the kitchen.''

Insp Barton appealed for other youngsters to stay out of the cemetery. He said: "It is not a safe place to play and we don't want any more accidents.''

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