Funeral for baby boy left in mortuary

A council is to step in to pay for a baby boy’s funeral after his parents left him lying in a mortuary for five months, a court heard.

The infant died last year as a result of brain damage. His parents are accused of his killing and were released on bail to await trial. Mr Justice Hayden ruled no one in the case could be identified before granting the council permission to organise the funeral in a case he said was “extremely rare”. He added: “It is, in my experience, unprecedented.”