A GRIEVING mum has blasted crematorium staff for repeatedly moving tributes from her baby’s grave.

Gaynor-marie Merchant accused them of lacking “compassion and respect” after finding memorial items scattered five feet away from where her baby is buried.

She has confronted workers at Taunton Deane Crematorium and says she is not satisfied with the explanation that they remove items for maintenance purposes.

Ms Merchant said she’s had “nothing but problems” at the ‘crem’ since the funeral of her daughter Scarlett-Marie, who was stillborn at Musgrove Park Hospital in September 2014.

She said: “They removed my daughter’s flowers and decorations and took down a fence I put around the grave.

“They moved a flower pot with an inscription to Scarlett-Marie, one with a fairy and candle and other ornaments.

“On Monday it was all five feet from the grave. I didn’t really get an explanation or apology.

“They constantly move things. There’s no compassion or respect.

“I said I’d keep coming to put it back. They said I’m not allowed to.

“Once they threw items in a bush with other babies’ things.”

Ms Merchant lives on Taunton’s Lane estate with daughter Sapphire, two, and says the stress isn’t helping her come to terms with Scarlett-Marie’s loss.

She added: “It’s insulting to her memory and hurtful. The devastation of losing my baby doesn’t go away. I spend a lot of time at her grave. This doesn’t help.”

A spokesman for Taunton Deane Borough Council, which runs the crematorium off Wellington Road, said: “We do have a number of signs in the crematorium gardens explaining that the lawns need to be maintained to an acceptable standard.

“It would be impossible for us to maintain the area without moving items and because there are so many it is sometimes difficult to place them back exactly where they were.

“We understand the significance of these tributes to grieving families and would never wish to cause distress but our aim is to ensure the area as a whole is as tidy and peaceful as possible.

“There will be options for formal remembrance when the new memorial baby garden is opened in the near future.”