Horrified mother sinks into mud at baby son’s grave in Northern Ireland

A frustrated Northern Irish mother posted photos of her son’s grave to social media after local politicians ignored her pleas for improved drainage.

A mother in Northern Ireland sunk to her knees in the mud of her baby son’s grave on New Year’s Eve after her complaints of bad drainage were ignored by local politicians.

Michelle Marshall from Co. Down was visiting her son Bailey’s grave in Ballyvester Cemetery in Donaghadee on what would have been his 12th birthday when her legs stuck in the wet sand and mud. Marshall’s sister and a passerby were forced to assist her back out of the mud but she lost her shoes in the process.

While Ards and North Down Borough Council apologized to the Down woman after she posted photos of the mud at the grave to social media, it appears that this is not the first time the Irish mother has made a complaint about the drainage on the site.

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"You can't imagine what it feels like to go to your baby son's grave to be faced with this on his birthday. I am completely broken-hearted," she wrote on Facebook.

Marshall’s son was born prematurely on December 31, 2005, and died of an infection 33 days later. Buried in the cemetery in 2006, the family claim to have had repeated difficulties in accessing his grave because of mud and flooding to the site, his mother even stating that she had thought of exhuming her son’s remains because of the continued problems over the past 12 years.

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Image: Michelle Marshall/Facebook

While she had previously been up to her shins in mud at the grave, New Year's Eve became the worst episode yet as a result of the upheaval of earth caused by the digging of a further grave alongside her son’s.

"My sister was holding on to me - it was up to my knees," she said.

"I could hear pockets of air beneath my feet, sucking me down further".

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Image: Michelle Marshall/Facebook

"According to our council this only happens when there are extreme weather conditions! I am making this post public in the hope that someone somewhere can help," she continued on Facebook.

The BBC reports that Marshall has since met with council officials and it is hoped that further ground protection and new drains will now be installed in the cemetery.

H/T: BBC