A MOTHER who lost her four-year-old daughter in a tragic accident last year was left 'disgusted' after her memorial was vandalised.

Elise Thorpe, 28, from Upper Heyford, near Bicester, had placed a new plaque for her daughter Freya, from her and her husband and their two twins, in the village community garden.

On Sunday she discovered the plaque had been ripped from the memorial and other items that they had placed had been thrown about and damaged.

Mrs Thorpe believes the person responsible is a woman who helped establish the garden and said she was confused as to why she would vandalise it.

Also read: Father's tribute to four-year-old who died while climbing tree

She said: “When I placed the plaque, that was the first time I had been to the garden as it is quite traumatic as you can imagine.

“Ever since then, I received abusive comments from her (the woman believed to be responsible) and all of a sudden she sent me a message saying I need to remove the items.

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“For me, it’s hard enough putting down items let alone removing them. I would understand if they were glass, but they weren’t, so I don’t know why she wanted me to remove them.

“She then took mainly my stuff from the garden which were two fairies, a plaque and a plastic heart with words on.

“It’s such a disgrace. It’s like wrecking someone’s grave.”

She went to the person’s house with her family to confront her, asking what happened to the items.

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Mrs Thorpe said the woman handed her a bag with items inside that had been damaged.

She added: “Everything inside the bag was broken. The plaque was scratched and the wings on the fairies were pulled off.”

The land where Freya’s Fairy Garden lies was donated to the community by Dorchester Living.

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Mrs Thorpe says lots of people knew Freya in the village and that she visited the Fairy Garden. Since she passed, residents have been leaving flowers, trinkets and notes for her.

Now, her mother says it has been ‘tainted’ because of what has happened.

She said: “We were due to move back to Upper Heyford but this has left a bad taste. We needed time with family to get our strength back, but this has been upsetting and put a bad light on a part of it.

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“It’s been tainted and it would be very uncomfortable to go back there.

"How do you tell kids and explain to them that they can't go there anymore? I can't give them a reason."

Despite Mrs Thorpe currently living in Oxford away from Upper Heyford, in order to deal with her daughter’s death, she said many in the village community had been supportive.

She said: “A lot of the community are behind me. Tim Coggins, the chair of Upper Heyford Parish Council said he would pay for a different area dedicated to Freya and the CEO of Dorchester, Paul Silver said he would do anything for us and possibly put a plaque in the new village centre.”

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Friend of Mrs Thorpe, Julia Martin, commented on Facebook: "This is awful. How disrespectful and horrible. All Freya’s little friends love visiting her fairy garden - it’s such a special place. Everyone is outraged and thinking about you."

Mrs Thorpe says she has made a report to police about the woman she believed was responsible.

Freya died while climbing a tree near her home on Sunday, September 8, last year, when she slipped and her cycle helmet got caught on a branch.

An inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court in January gave a conclusion of accidental death.