Mining company UK Coal has granted a reprieve to a grieving Shropshire grandmother ordered to quit her home next to a giant opencast site in Telford this summer.

Lynn and Stanley Cain had vowed to stay put in the house until they could find a suitable new home as they were having to cope with the death of their daughter-in-law, who sadly died from a brain tumour on April 15.

The tragedy has left the Cains having to help their son by looking after their two young grandchildren, who are aged five and nine.

UK Coal today said it sympathised with the Cains’ plight and the couple would now not have to leave their home until next year.

Mrs Cain, 57, said she and her husband were being forced from the home where they have lived for 10 years because landlords UK Coal wanted to sell the property near the controversial opencast mine off Huntington Lane, Little Wenlock.

Mining chiefs say they needed to sell the house to clear company debt.

Before the latest reprieve Mrs Cain said UK Coal had been looking to evict the family earlier this year, but then gave them until July 1 because of her daughter-in-law’s condition.

“I’m helping my son at the moment by looking after the children because he is just so upset,” added Mrs Cain.

“He is 28 and they were childhood sweethearts.

“The children’s lives have been turned upside-down by this, all of our lives have been.

“They gave us the extension because I wouldn’t have anything to do with them,” she said.

“I would not allow them into the house and they wanted to bring estate agents but I told them I would barricade myself in with the children.”

Mrs Cain said she had had two spells in hospital with stress following UK Coal’s decision to evict the family and with her daughter-in-law falling ill.

Gordon Grant, spokesman for UK Coal, today said: “UK Coal has been made aware of the of the recent passing of Mr and Mrs Cain’s daughter-in-law.

“We sympathise with the family during such a difficult time and clearly do not wish to add to this distress.

“As such, we will not be asking them to vacate the property this year and will instead help them to make alternative arrangements at a more appropriate point next year.”

Mr Grant added: “It has always been our intention to support our tenants through this process and deal with individual circumstances sympathetically and on an individual basis.”