A grieving Bristol mother was told she was not a close enough relative to her dead son when she asked a Government hardship fund for help to pay his funeral costs.

Penniless Francine Provis had her heart "ripped out" when son Christopher Keevil, 21, was found hanging in woodland in the notorious South Wales suicide spot of Bridgend.

The former mining town hit the headlines after a string of more than two dozen suicides between 2007 and 2008, with some occurring in clusters among friends.

Ms Provis, a former prison officer who is unemployed, had to rely on a loan from friends to bring Chris's body back home over the Severn Bridge to Hanham in Bristol.

She currently owes more than £2,000 to the Co-Op funeral directors, who paid for the modest service given to Chris.

When she told them she had no way of paying back the money, the funeral firm told her about the Social Fund, which is set up for people like her in dire financial circumstances, who find themselves hit with sudden unexpected costs.

She applied for help to cover the £2,400 bill for Chris's funeral, but was rejected on grounds that as he had recently got back in touch with an estranged half-sister and father, she should not have taken responsibility for his funeral arrangements.

She believes the confusion arose because Chris was using his half-sister's address to collect mail from, even though he was in more regular touch with his mother and had recently fallen out with his father again.

Although Ms Provis, 52, had to proceed with the funeral in a bid to lay her son to rest, she is hoping to appeal the Social Fund's decision as she has no way of footing the bill.

She told the Bristol Evening Post: "It has been a real struggle. We had the most basic funeral we could. There were no flowers or vicar and I wore borrowed clothes. Some friends clubbed together to pay for food at the wake. We had to delay it for two weeks as it was and couldn't wait any longer for obvious reasons.

"Who is this fund for if it's not for people like me? I want to work. I sign on every week and even now am still looking for jobs, when I could be signed off sick with depression. I just don't understand it."

Before his suicide on August 12, Chris had been living a transient lifestyle and had been jailed for petty theft.

Twice his mother moved to Spain with him in a bid to restart their lives, after her own was hit with tragedy. Her sister died of anorexia at 29, her mother died of an accidental overdose soon after at 52, and she lost one of her other children to cot death. She says Chris's troubles began when he was bullied at school in Spain.

Ms Provis believes Chris decided to take his own life after things took a downward turn.

She said: "He recently got back in touch with his half-sister, Victoria, 24, and was using her home as a care of address. But he stole off her and the two fell out, and I think he realised he had burned all his bridges. He sent her a text saying 'I've got a rope, I'm going to do it'.

"I think the aura of depression in Bridgend got him down. Nobody there is working and there is a lot of talk about all the suicides. Kids just see it as a way out."

Ms Provis was told her appeal to the Social Fund had been rejected third hand, after a member of staff told her father over the phone.

She said: "They implied I had no right to take responsibility for his funeral, but nobody else was going to do it. I just wanted to lay him to rest. I think the way it has been handled is disgusting."

She has written to Roger Berry, Labour MP for Kingswood, asking for help with her plight.

He said: "It's a ridiculous situation. Under these tragic circumstances, I am disappointed with the outcome.

"Whatever the technicalities, it is outrageous Ms Provis has been told she should not have taken responsibility for her own son, who she was in regular contact with."

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions, which administers the fund, said Ms Provis's application for funding was currently at appeal, adding he could not comment more at this stage.