Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
BABY’S ASHES TURN UP 13 YEARS ON
Mum stunned by find
A horrified Coatbridge mum whose baby daughter died 13 years ago was stunned to be told her “precious little one’s ashes” had been found in the cupboard of a funeral parlour.
Devastated Julie Morrison, of Shawhead, is now calling for a public inquiry following the shocking discovery of stillborn Erin’s ashes – after she was told back in 2003 that her child was too small for any to be collected. But they were tracked down a couple of weeks ago by Dame Elish Angiolini during her inquiry into the baby ashes scandal which has sickened Scotland. Julie, 35, received a personal call from the former Lord Advocate to say Erin’s remains had been in the Jonathan Harvey funeral director’s branch in Glasgow’s Argyle Street all this time.
The mum said: “I went into the Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow for a scan in July 2003 and found out Erin had passed away at 36 weeks due to a blood clot in my placenta.
“The hospital and Daldowie [crematorium] told us Erin was too small for us to get ashes. I was disappointed and confused because she was a fully formed baby, just a bit smaller.
“When the story came out about the Mortonhall baby ashes scandal, we decided to take action and contacted our solicitor.
“Dame Elish then got involved and I got a phone call from her to say Erin’s ashes had been found in a cupboard, in a box that had her name on it. I couldn’t believe
that no-one had contacted me in 13 years and struggled to take it all in. We were in total shock.
“We asked to collect Erin’s ashes straight away but were still wary as you begin to think: ‘Are they actually Erin’s ashes?’ How can we trust anything they say?
“We had trusted the hospital, funeral director and Daldowie and they let us down badly.”
Julie and husband Bryan, 42, later had three children and are hoping the tragic events that befell them can act as a catalyst for change.
Julie said: “I am looking for a public inquiry to be carried out as goodness knows how many other parents could be in the same boat.
“I’ve been in touch with parents and spoke with one mother who knows her baby’s ashes are still out there but doesn’t know where.
“That must be so horrible as what has happened to us was bad enough but at least we were able to bring Erin’s ashes home.
“People’s lives are being ruined here and it is totally unacceptable.
“Perhaps they could bring more comprehensive databases into funeral parlours and even use colour- coded systems to improve their files.
“Something has to be done and I would urge parents who think there’s a chance their babies’ ashes could be out there to contact funeral parlours and ask about them.”
Another 11 sets of baby ashes were found during the search of Jonathan Harvey’s Argyle Street branch, some dating back as far as 1999, and Dame Elish has passed the case to the Inspector of Crematoria for investigation.
Dame Elish criticised the “absence of consistent information” from Daldowie Crematorium in Glasgow, where Erin was cremated, NHS staff and funeral directors about whether ashes could be recovered from babies.
In her report, she said: “Neither the NHS nor Jonathan Harvey Ltd were able to provide the investigation with documentary evidence to explain the chain of events that resulted in this wholly unacceptable and, for the parents, deeply distressing situation.”
A spokesman for Dignity, who took over Jonathan Harvey in December 2003, said: “We are pleased to have been able to help reunite this mother with the ashes of her baby.
“There are 11 other sets of infant ashes where we have not received instruction from the hospital, who were our client.
“The infants were cremated under the contract and the hospital, due to patient confidentiality, would not have provided us with the names of the parents or their contact details. The ashes are stored on the shelves of specially designed metal cabinets and the vast majority of funeral directors keep ashes in this way.”
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “We received clear, written instructions to return ashes to the funeral director so the family could have them which we did. We do not know why they were not then given to the family.”
We do not know why they were not given to the family . . .