FOR nearly two years, mum Kelly Crosswell has dealt with the anguish of losing a child by keeping her daughter’s grave in immaculate condition.

Handmade ornaments, cards and keepsakes were delicately placed around the plot of land where little Harlow was laid to rest at Hollybrook cemetery in Southampton.

With help from her family, she even cut the grass around the grave on weekly visits.

But the 25-year-old has told of her horror at sight of dumped grass and broken ornaments strewn across it.

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She told the Daily Echo it was the work of grass cutters tending to the area. As previously reported, sections of the community have expressed their dismay over the sight of overgrown grass blighting cemeteries across the city.

But Miss Crosswell says Southampton City Council has taken grass cutting to extreme measures, and ignored her signs not to strim the area.

She said: “They strimmed everything and ornaments were broken.

They had broken fence pieces and cards. They knew what they had done because they picked it up and put it back on the grave again.

“I was devastated.”

Little Harlow was stillborn at 22 weeks in December 2011.

Miss Crosswell, who has two boys, said there was around £200-worth of damage to the grave.

Southampton City Council says it regrets “any distress” caused to Miss Crosswell and her family over the incident.

A spokesman added: “Cutting the grass across five major cemeteries at this time of year is a challenging task, and while we always try to respect the individual grave owner’s requests to maintain the graves themselves notices placed on graves are occasionally overlooked."