A CROWDFUNDING page has been launched to help pay to fix a garden left with a "dangerous 10ft drop” after a builder failed to finish despite being paid £6,500.

Jessica Hood and her brother David have set up the fundraising page for their mum, Marian.

They want to help the 61-year-old repair her front garden in Pepys Street, Harwich, after a builder started work and then left - the company has now closed.

Jessica said: “She had been aiming to get the garden done for years. Her twin brother died and she got a bit of money so she wanted to get the work done.

“There was some subsidence. The idea was to knock down the steps that were there that were leaning and coming away from the wall and put retaining walls around the basement garden and a patio.

“The whole job was going to be £9,500 including safety railings and other bits.

“She paid £6,500 deposit - we weren’t aware you don’t give deposits of that much. They dug the garden out and put up some walls, which we have since been told aren’t tied on, so there is nothing holding them in place.”

But work, which started in February, slowed down and then stopped completely.

Jessica says the garden, which is below pavement level, now has unfinished, unstable walls, and no railings to prevent someone falling over the edge into the garden.

They have been quoted around £6,000 to remove and redo the work and up to £12,500 to do the whole job including the patio she was promised.

Jessica added: “Mum doesn’t want to invite people over because she is worried about the safety of them getting up the steps to the house.It’s so much worse now than it was before - the walls need taking down and we’ve been told the footings aren’t deep enough.

“We went to a solicitor but were told he (the builder) has nothing so we wouldn’t get anything and it would cost £500 to go to court, we don’t have that money.

“But if we can raise £6,500 we can at least pay to fix the garden for her.”

To donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/marianhoodhouseandgardenrescue.