A new project which will see offenders on community sentences being sent out to fix fallen cemetery headstones has been launched in Aberdeen by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

Under the initiative, gravestones will be repaired and fallen headstones will be returned to their original upright positions in a major clean-up operation by offenders.

The Community Payback project is being taken forward as part of a near £500,000 funding package announced on Tuesday by the Scottish Government.

Mr MacAskill, who was at Trinity Cemetery in Aberdeen for the launch of the project, said: "Cemeteries should be a place of quiet reflection, a place to pay your respects and to remember loved ones lost.

"Unfortunately, the scene at many cemeteries in Aberdeen, and more widely across Scotland, is one of fallen and broken headstones. That is unacceptable, it’s a bugbear of many communities up and down the country, and this project will see action being taken to rectify it.

"The council and church workers do their best, but finding the resources and labour required to carry out these repairs is often a real struggle for many.

"We want to get these low level offenders out doing some hard work, carrying out tough manual labour to repay their dues to the community they’ve harmed, whilst delivering improvements from which the community will benefit."

The headstones that are set to be repaired are those where executors or owners cannot be traced.

The Aberdeen Graveyard Project and a similar project in Moray will cost around £55,000.

An additional £100,000 has been set aside to repair and refurbish sports facilities in Aberdeen, while £60,000 has been made available to create a multi-sports facility in Moray and £54,960 will be spent on a new regeneration football pitch at Clachnacuddin FC.

The Scottish Government is helping to fund the initiatives as part of a £4m investment to improve communities across Scotland through using teams of low level offenders.

The money used to purchase equipment for the projects has come from Proceeds of Crime Act.