Families whose relatives' gravestones were levelled by a council have been told they will have to pay to replace them.

Tempers flared at a meeting at Chyngton Methodist Church Hall, Seaford, on Saturday night as more than 200 people came face to face with Lewes District Council chief executive John Crawford.

The audience was told the council had neither the money nor the power to put back the 600 headstones, which had been levelled after being deemed unsafe in Lewes and Seaford cemeteries.

County councillor Mike Murphy said: "The levelling was a complete over-reaction. This must be regarded as mass vandalism by the council."

Mr Crawford apologised for the distress caused but said the district council was not responsible for reinstating them.

He said: "The council will work with people to restore the memorials and help people to facilitate the work with stonemasons. The council does not have the legal power to pay for memorials.

"I don't believe the council can take any responsibility for the purchasing or maintenance of private memorials."

He said the decision to run safety tests had been made last summer.

Many visitors insisted they had not received a letter warning them of the testing. Mr Crawford insisted the letters were in the post.

Sarah Wilson, from Seaford, said: "Didn't you even stop to think about how this would effect the relatives? What you have done is totally out of order."

Others complained about how the work had been carried out.

Phil Barker, from Peacehaven, said: "I watched the people working. Those headstones only went down because of one thing - brute force.

"I have been a surveyor for 35 years and I know how it should have been done. My mother's headstone was broken off by brute force."