"Builders turned my garden into stinking toxic swamp and it is killing my dogs"

A disabled woman has slammed builders who have turned her garden into a "stinking toxic swamp" which she fears is slowly killing her two pet dogs. Jane Bamford, 58, says her housing providers are doing nothing to help since her back garden lawn was left a boggy marsh oozing black mud and mould. She believes the three inch deep petrol-like sludge which has taken over the rear of her home could be blue-green algae, which can be lethal to both dogs and humans. The health support worker says since the problem arose both her pet pooches have fallen violently ill and she's had to fork out £124 in vet bills so far. The mum-of-two has complained to property providers Platform Housing, which manages her property, but was told it was the responsibility of building company. Jane says her garden in Worcester would regularly build up with water but it’s only since last October that she has been plagued by the mystery oily substance. Her main concern is the health of her dogs - five-year-old German Shepherd, Wilf, and 13-year-old Gladys, a Cairn Terrier crossed with a Jack Russell. Jane claims that the smaller dog, Gladys has lost fur on her legs which she reckons is due to the rancid quagmire festering in her waterlogged garden. She said: "I don't call it my garden. I call it 'the swamp'. I'm waiting for an alligator to come out of it. It has been nothing but trouble since we moved in. “I’m worried about the dogs. Someone mentioned it could be blue algae. It kills dogs, and if they’re exposed to it, it can kill them. It can children too. “When my garden is flooded the garden is underwater. It looks like oil, the surveyor said it was some form of moss. “It looks like petrol or when your car leaks and leaves a stain on the pavement. Gladys has lost his fur on his legs because of it. “The dogs are getting quite ill. The little one is really low to the ground and has an upset stomach. "They've both been really violently sick. The vet has said keep them off the grass because we don't really know what it is." Animal-lover Jane said the murky substance first appeared after she put down some grass seed in her garden after a buildup of water ruined it. She claims her garden was left "like a swimming pool" and that she even fell while tending her plants because the area was so wet. Jane, who has lived at the property since last March, added: “I was told it’s the tenants responsibility, so I threw a box of grass seed on it to get it growing again. "Then this black stuff started appearing, it was gloopy. “When it rains it just doesn’t go anywhere because it’s clay underneath it. “This is all the builders fault, all of it. They told me they put a layer of soil down before they built, but I know it’s clay soil. “I fell in the garden in November because it was that slippery and wet. I've been off work a long time because of it. "It's a cloggy black substance with a chemical sheen to it. It's this black mud. I thought I had struck oil at first. But that black stuff is mould, not soil. "I'm worried the dogs will die from exposure to the water. I'm devastated. All I want to do is live in my house and enjoy my garden.” Darren Harrison, service manager at Platform Housing Group, said: "We are sorry to hear of our customer's issues with her garden. "We have been in touch with the developer who visited Ms Bamford's home earlier in the week to undertake a site survey. "The developer will be taking action to rectify the issue."