A BEACONSFIELD schoolgirl has branded a political party “moronic” and “beyond insensitive” after they used a memorial to a murdered woman to mount a promotional sign.

Morgana Welsh, a 16-year-old Beaconsfield High School pupil, ripped the UKIP election billboard down in disgust after seeing it displayed on a memorial psalm to Sinead Healy.

The party then put another, larger, stand-alone sign obscuring the memorial. UKIP has today apologised for the sighting of the signs.

The 26-year-old's body was found buried in a layby by the A40 in March 2001. Her fiancée, Kenneth Lynch, was later convicted of the murder.

Miss Welsh, who lives in High Wycombe, said: “We drive past the spot quite often and I remembered the case quite clearly from seeing it in the press.

“It is beyond insensitive, and an outrageous lack of respect for the poor girl's family. Anyone capable of doing this is either pig ignorant or deliberately malicious.”

UKIP came second in the South Bucks district in Thursday's European Parliament poll, ahead of Labour and the Lib Dems.

However, Miss Welsh said her anger was compounded when she drove past the sign a week later and saw UKIP had not removed the tape from the psalm, and erected a huge billboard in front of it.

She added: “I can only assume people had not realised what they had done, or I'm sure they would not have voted for them.”

It is the second problem UKIP has had with their signs in the High Wycombe area.

Last month someone covered the face of Winston Churchill on a West Wycombe Road billboard promoting immigration restrictions with a sign reading “Hidden In Shame. Winston Churchill was better than this.”

Steve Harris a spokesman for the party, admitted the sign was insensitive, and promised to get it cleaned up as soon as possible.

He added: “All I can really say is obviously we are very, very sorry. People get a bit overenthusiastic about it sometimes, and we can only apologise for it.”