A HEADTEACHER has apologised after a memorial to a dead pupil was removed without the family’s knowledge.

The mother and step-father of nine-year-old Kim Huby, who died in October 1994, have been left distraught and claim the move was a form of “desecration”.

Kim was a pupil at Rose Hill Primary School, Oxford, when she died from pulmonary hypertension – a condition which affects blood pressure in the lungs.

The school installed a small table and three stools in her memory following the death.

But Kim’s mother, Jean Pomroy, was told via a Facebook message to collect the table if she wanted to keep it.

The memorial was supposed to be on display in the library, but when Mrs Pomroy got to the school, she was left waiting while staff struggled to find it.

She said: “A member of staff from the school sent me a message saying, ‘If you want the table can you please come and pick it up’.

“So, I went down to the school the next day and told the reception that I had come to pick up Kim’s memorial table.

“They told me they had no idea what I was talking about.

“It was supposed to be in the library, but when I was there they couldn’t find it for ages and they still can’t find the stools that go with it.

“I don’t know where it was, and no-one will tell me, but it sounds as if it was shoved in a cupboard somewhere and forgotten about.”

Headteacher Sue Mortimer, who joined the school in September 2007, refused to answer questions about where the table was and why it took so long to find.

She said: “I have spoken to Mrs Pomroy and I have given her my sincerest apologies for an extremely regrettable misunderstanding.”

Mrs Pomroy’s husband, Anthony, who is stepfather to her six children, said: “The school had no knowledge of it until the chaos was caused.

“It’s hard to apportion blame to any one person, as I know this all happened before the current headteacher’s time, but it is unacceptable. It’s a form of desecration. You wouldn’t remove a headstone. It is the same thing.”

Mrs Pomroy said: “We were really happy when the school offered to buy the table. Kim was such a character, a real tom boy, and she was so happy at the school.

“The school has since offered to try to find a space for it, but I’m not giving it back.

“At least I know it’s safe here and someone will appreciate it and remember her each time they look at it.”