A FURIOUS mother, whose family is living apart, has attacked the Government for refusing to buy her home - despite purchasing two neighbouring houses in the village of Throckmorton.

Gaynor Moynihan says the mass foot-and-mouth burial pits, believed to contain 130,000 animal carcases, have caused the price of her barn conversion to plummet.

It cannot be sold and she cannot therefore join her husband Stephen, who is working in Holland.

The 39-year-old, who lives at Lower House Farm Barns, next door to the properties bought by DEFRA, said she was amazed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had stated in yesterday's Evening News it had bought some homes because the owners had had "pressing" reasons to move.

"What could be more pressing than my family having to live apart because I cannot sell my house," said Mrs Moynihan, who has a seven-year-old son Richard and daughter Sarah, three.

"It's an awful situation. The children are understandably very upset about the situation which has been going on for 10 months. We don't understand why we are being treated so differently."

People living near to the burial site say their homes have plummeted in price and want the Government department to buy them back at the price before the mass graves were dug.

However, DEFRA insists the pits have not affected the price of the properties, despite the homes failing to sell after months of being up for sale.

Neighbour Angie Gregg said the fact DEFRA had rented the homes it has bought, proved the department knew they could not be sold.

"When you consider house prices are going up by stupid amounts, why have they not put the houses on the market?" she said.

A spokeswoman for DEFRA said two houses had been bought because they had both been on the market prior to the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

"There was compelling evidence to prompt us to buy the houses at market value," she said.

"DEFRA has no liability to provide further compensation and the current circumstances of the remaining families can be distinguished from those bought last year."