To ashes agony
the correct information about the processes in place”.
It also said that it was “clear that Lord Bonomy had been misled by those Aberdeen City Council staff who met with him and his team during the Infant Cremation Commission’s visit”.
The report also found there was “no evidence that any effort had been made by any of the senior managers concerned at Aberdeen City Council to clarify at exactly what age or stage ashes are available”.
It said that senior staff didn’t challenge what they were told by the crematorium manager despite evidence which emerged from a similar probe at Mortonhall Crematorium in Edinburgh.
Penn concluded: “There was little knowledge by senior management of the service provided to the families of these babies.
“There was insufficient interest taken or leadership show by management.”
An anonymous letter sent to the council by a former crematorium employee cast doubt over the information provided to Lord Bonomy during his work for the commission.
It said staff were “trained in a procedure that we thought to be correct” and that there were never any remains recovered from children who were less than two years old.
It added: “They were never cremated on their own, they always went into the cremator with an adult. I am appalled that I have been part of this. The responsibility lies with Aberdeen City Council for allowing this to happen.”
The crematorium superintendent Derek Snow confirmed there could be some truth in the letter. He was sacked on June 28, 2014.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “Over the past few years, operations at the crematorium have been transformed. There is now an open and inclusive ethos where staff are encouraged to contribute and challenge.
“Every crematorium staff member is a qualified cremator technician certified to carry out infant and baby cremations.
“At the inspection of Hazlehead Crematorium in 2016, the Inspector of Crematoria Scotland noted the Crematorium Operational Procedure document as a credit to the authors and one of the most comprehensive and useful guidance and training aids seen by the inspector at any of the crematoria in Scotland.”