Willy Collins: Grave for Sheffield dad-of-nine which breaks cemetery rules still in place after 18 months

It was unveiled by the family of Willy Collins in March 2022 and later found to be in breach of council size limits.

Sheffield Council and the Collins family have been unable to reach an agreement over what happens next.

Willy was 49 when he collapsed and died on July 7, 2020 during a holiday in Majorca.

The patriarch of a traveller family, who lived in Darnall and was known to friends as ‘Big Willy’ and the ‘King of Sheffield’, was described by his wife Kathleen following his death as the ‘love of my life’, a ‘gentle giant’ and a ‘great’ father and grandfather.

He was a well-known bare-knuckle boxer, and boxers including Tyson Fury, Kell Brook and Billy Joe Saunders were among those who sent their condolences to his family after his death.

Hundreds of mourners attended his lavish funeral in August 2020, with 30 horses trailing his 22-carat gold casket,

The 37-ton memorial at his grave in Shiregreen Cemetery was crafted using solid Carrara marble from Italy and reputedly cost £200,000. It features two life-size statues of the boxer, four flagpoles, depictions of biblical scenes and a solar-power jukebox playing his favourite songs.

The Collins family has always insisted permission was granted for the grave and has warned that there would be ‘war’ if the memorial was ever damaged or taken down by the council.

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that council officials initially refused to grant permission for parts of the spectacular memorial – life size statues of Mr Collins – because they were too high.

Graveside monuments are expected to be kept at under 4ft 6ins in height. The plan was then revised and permission was granted at that stage.

But there were then additions to the memorial installed at a later date by a different, unnamed mason to the one the council had originally been dealing with, according to council papers.