Prosecutors may trigger police probe into baby ashes scandal
PROSECUTORS are examining a damning report into the baby ashes scandal, the Mail can reveal. Former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini exposed shocking malpractice at crematoria across Scotland in a series of findings published earlier this summer.
Grieving parents expressed their ‘disgust’ after her report revealed ‘unethical and abhorrent practices’ at Hazlehead crematorium in Aberdeen, where babies were cremated with unrelated adults.
It emerged yesterday the Crown Office is looking at the report which focused mainly on Aberdeen and may instruct police to launch an investigation.
Police and prosecutors are still probing an earlier scandal at Mortonhall crematorium in Edinburgh, which saw the secret dumping of babies’ ashes.
Dame Elish’s separate 400-page National Cremation Investigation, published in June, revealed the bodies of infants up to two years old, foetuses and stillborn babies were regularly cremated alongside adult strangers in Aberdeen to save time – with family members told there were no remains to collect.
It also emerged yesterday that bereaved parents will be kept in the dark about the actions of council staff involved in the Hazlehead scandal.
A report will be presented to councillors today outlining what action needs to be taken in the wake of Dame Elish’s findings.
Aberdeen City Council chief executive Angela Scott will present a report to councillors accepting the majority of the findings and setting out a plan for changes to crematoria practices.
But the results of an investigation into the responsibilities of staff will not be made public, due to ‘data protection’ issues.
The secondary report, detailing an external probe into the ‘operational and strategic responsibility’ of crematorium workers at the centre of the controversy, will be kept out of the public eye.
Last night Stephen Flynn, leader of the council’s opposition SNP group, said the public will want to see ‘accountability for the mistakes that have been made’.
In her public report, Mrs Scott sets out the changes she is implementing at the council in the wake of the scandal, saying it was ‘difficult to overestimate’ the impact of past practices at Hazlehead. She added that continued support would be offered to those affected.
Mrs Scott said: ‘It must also be acknowledged that these issues have had a profound effect on public trust and confidence in both the crematorium and the council more generally.
‘As I said in my statement to the council in June, sadly it is impossible to undo what was done in the past. My commitment is to ensure that such practices do not occur in the future.’
Commenting on the secrecy row, Mrs Scott defended the decision to keep some information confidential from the ongoing review.
She added: ‘The findings are currently under active consideration and any unauthorised disclosure would potentially breach fair employment practice under employment legislation and the Data Protection Act.’
The scandal first emerged at Mortonhall, in Edinburgh, where staff had falsely told parents: ‘You don’t get ashes from a baby.’
An earlier 2014 report – also by Dame Elish – detailed how ashes had simply been dumped in a mass grave.
Meanwhile, the practice of cremating babies at night meant their remains were frequently mixed with those of the first adult the following morning.
In relation to Mortonhall, a Crown Office spokesman said last night prosecutors were still ‘carrying out further investigation with Police Scotland’. It is believed they are investigating claims that parents’ signatures were faked on forms approving the disposal of their babies’ ashes at Mortonhall.
Commenting on Dame Elish’s June report, the spokesman said it ‘is under consideration’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said a public inquiry into the infant cremation scandal – which many parents have demanded – had been ruled out as it would not ‘achieve anything further’.
‘Unethical and abhorrent’