A MUM-OF-TWO says a callous council is refusing to move her away from the home where her partner killed himself.
Every day for almost a year, 29-year-old Emma Sandford has braved the sight from her Farm Road, Warlingham kitchen window, which looks out to the garden where Daniel Bonnell took his own life.
In July last year, while preparing bottled milk for her baby Kaitlyn in her two-bedroom maisonette, she discovered Mr Bonnell had hanged himself in her garden.
The experience has left her haunted by the memory, and anxious to move, but Tandridge District Council has refused.
She explained: "Every morning when I go into the kitchen and I look out into the garden, I get horrible flashbacks.
"I was the one who found him. I am the one who will have to explain to my children what happened. I am the one who has to deal with these horrific visions, day in day out."
She has lived in her house for three years, but a year ago when Daniel, the father of her children, killed himself, she decided that she needed to move.
"If I could pick my house up and move it to a different garden, I would," she said.
"But I can't and I need the council to move me. I can't face the memories of what this garden means.
"We had a birthday party for my five-year-old son recently, and he wanted it to be in the garden. How do you explain to a child why you don't like going out there?"
Now, after months of pleading with the district council to move her on welfare grounds, she has reached breaking point.
"I think it is diabolical they won't move me," she said. "I understand there are those more in need, but this is really getting to me. I try to avoid going into the kitchen because I don't want to remember the pain of losing him all over again."
A Tandridge District Council spokeswoman said Miss Sandford did not automatically qualify for an immediate move.
He said: "Although we are sympathetic to Miss Sandford's case, unfortunately her circumstances do not currently meet the criteria in our allocation policy for an urgent move on medical grounds.
"We have to ensure all applications for re-housing are assessed using consistent criteria as we receive many applications. Currently there are nearly 2,000 households on our re-housing list.
"Unfortunately, demand for housing greatly exceeds the supply of properties available to us and on average, we are only able to help around 250 households with re-housing each year.
"Demand for properties with two or more bedrooms is particularly high, which means we are only able to help the highest priority cases, including homeless households in temporary accommodation, overcrowded households and those with the most urgent need to move on medical grounds."
She added that the council will continue to review her situation, should any more medical information arise.
