Mother was told body had been incinerated in hospital

ABIRMINGHAM mother spent 40 years searching for her baby’s grave – only to discover she was buried just a ten-minute walk from her home.

Veronica Thompson thought for years that her daughter Theresa’s remains had been cremated after she died, aged just four days, in 1973.

The anguished mother was not told for four decades that the premature tot was instead laid to rest in a public grave at Brandwood Cemetery, close to her Kings Heath home.

The truth emerged only when Ms Thompson began investigating the scandal about the unauthorised use of babies’ body parts in medical research.

“I was elated and angry at the same time when I finally found out,” she said.

“My daughter’s final resting place had been a short bus journey away all this time.

“I could have grieved properly for my baby at her grave. Instead, I had to fight to find where my baby’s body was. I’m sure there must be other women in my position.”

Theresa was born prematurely at the former Sorrento Maternity Hospital in Moseley.

Ms Thompson, now aged 60, said she was led to believe that the hospital had “disposed” of her remains.

“It was something you didn’t question, it was a different era back then,” she said.

“I saw my daughter in the morgue, I had her christened in the hospital and then I was discharged. I was led to believe the hospital disposed of her body. I thought her remains had been incinerated.”

The Sorrento hospital closed in 1993 but Ms Thompson began her search for answers after reading about the body parts scandal some years later.

A report released in 2000 confirmed that certain body parts of children who died during treatment at Birmingham Children’s Hospital were removed without permission over a 35-year period. Ms Thompson was told in writing that her daughter’s remains had not been tampered with. Theresa’s final resting place was finally found in 2012 after Birmingham Women’s Hospital helped comb through medical records.

Ms Thompson said: “I realised that, if I could have assurances that my baby’s body parts were not taken, then someone must know what happened to her.

“In December 2012 I got the call from the Women’s Hospital to say they had found my baby 39 years after I lost her.

“My message to other women who have gone through similar situations is to never give up.”

I had to fight to find where my baby’s body was. There must be other women in my position. Veronica Thompson