'˜Complaints' led to shrine for Northampton car crash victims being removed

Tom Moor and Katy Seymour at Delapre Lake with some of the tributes left for their friends who died in a car crash on Sunday. The tributes would have otherwise been moved following complaints to Northampton Borough Council.

The selection of flowers, photographs and lanterns were left at Delapre Lake on Monday in memory of Sam Kay, Brogan Warren, Nicoletta Tocco and Krop Jones, who lost their lives in head on collision near the Wiltshire / Oxfordshire border on Sunday night.

The close friends were returning from a vegetarian food festival in Bristol when the blue Citroen Saxo they were in collided with an oncoming Mercedes.

It is understood more than 100 people have visited a small spot at Delapre Lake this week to pay their tributes. Some had set up tents there and held fires as part of a vigil in their memory.

But this afternoon Northampton Borough Council removed the colourful shrine following “a complaint”.

Friend of the four killed, Katy Seymour, was arriving at the lake while a ranger was in the process of clearing the tributes away.

She said: “I know everyone has a job to do, but they could have turned a blind eye, just for a week.

“This is all just so fresh for us and you would think they would let it lie for a short while.”

Katy, 29, from Roade, was allowed to keep the flowers and trinkets and intends to give them to the close family of those who died.

The loss of the four good friends, all of whom were in their 20s and well known in Northampton, according to Katy, is still a shock for those who knew them.

Katy herself was only sat in a pub with pals Sam and Krop less than a week ago.

“They were all such close friends and the hardest part is they were such beautiful people,” she said. “They all had a heart of gold, it’s always the good ones that are taken early.

Northampton Borough Council has apologised for any hurt caused.

A spokesperson said: “We received a complaint this morning about tents and a burning campfire at Delapre Lake, to which our ranger responded.

“While he was tidying up, some people arrived and said they were collecting items that had been left in tribute and they took some things away with them.

“Our ranger then cleared what was left - some dead flowers and burned down candles. He was not aware that there had been a memorial gathering at the lake on Sunday or realise that anything left behind was intended to be a shrine.

“We are really very sorry indeed if in tidying up the area, we have caused any offence to the families or friends of the young people who died.”