A GRIEVING mother is hoping church authorities will look kindly on a request to have her baby daughter's ashes exhumed from a Darwen Cemetery.

Georgina Shorrock, 23, is battling to change the final resting place of her two-and-a-half-year old daughter after a catalogue of problems at the plot.

They include toys being stolen from her grave, a car being driven over it and the headstone being mistakenly placed on an empty plot last month by Co-op Funeral Services.

Little Chloe Rowley died on March 26. She had been born with a serious kidney disease which led to doctors removing both kidneys during operations at The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury.

Georgina, who has two other young children and lives in the Bold Venture area of Darwen, said Blackburn with Darwen Council and MP Janet Anderson had supported her but she was still waiting for positive action.

She added: "People have been sympathetic but we are still waiting for things to get sorted out. It is all causing a lot of upset.

"I've had to find a £160 fee and send it to the church authorities to get permission.

"I won't give up. I am determined to have Chloe moved to the plot where her headstone has been placed."

A spokesman for Co-operative Funeral Services said: "We apologised to Miss Shorrock for the original error as soon as it was brought to our attention.

"We offered to remove the headstone but after consultation agreed to leave it where it is until the outcome of the request, which we are supporting, is known."