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Anguish as 'shrine' flowers are removed

TRIBUTES: Soon after Jessica's death the accident site was covered with messages and flowers
TRIBUTES: Soon after Jessica's death the accident site was covered with messages and flowers
BINNED: All that remained this week were some of the flowers in sacks waiting to be taken away. Pictures: GRAHAM TUTTHILL
BINNED: All that remained this week were some of the flowers in sacks waiting to be taken away. Pictures: GRAHAM TUTTHILL

THE family of a teenager killed in a road accident last September are upset after all the flowers and plants placed at the scene of the tragedy in her memory were removed.

Ever since 14-year-old Jessica Leigh died in the crash in Bridge Stret, Dover, friends and family have been putting fresh flowers, plants, photos and messages there in her memory.

Each week, Jessica's relatives have tidied up the site, taking away dead flowers and making sure those that are left do not cause an eyesore, or get in anyone's way.

So they were very upset on Monday when they discovered that all the items had been moved and were stacked at one end of the site, ready for disposal.

Early on Tuesday they went to the scene and rescued all the plants they could, putting others into sacks, together with a note asking whoever was responsible to contact them so they could talk about it.

Pictures, poems and other tributes remain on a gate at the centre of the site, and the two advertisement hoardings on each side still bear the messages left by Jessica's friends.

They say they know it wasn't just vandalism, because they had been stacked neatly at one end, and had not been thrown around or damaged.

The family have given their support to the suggestion, put forward in the Dover Mercury two weeks ago, that some of the paving slabs could be removed at the site to form a small garden which could become a permanent memorial to Jessica.

Inquiries are being made to establish who owns the land to find out if this could be achieved.

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