Council set to settle £75,000 claim in the crematorium ashes scandal

DAVID ROSS

Colorado. She said the revelations and disclosures about the circumstances of her daughter’s cremation caused post-traumatic stress disorder. She was also suffering from a pain disorder.

In a court action against Edinburgh City Council she sued for £75,000 and said she will never know where her daughter’s remains are nor how they were disposed of and this caused her significant injury and distress.

Lawyers acting for the mother wanted the damages action to be heard before a civil jury rather than a judge sitting alone.

But during a brief hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh Robert Milligan QC, representing the council, asked for the case to be continued.

The senior counsel told Lord Ericht: “I am pleased to say an agreement, at least in principle, has been reached to resolve the whole claim.”

The suggestion the local authority was preparing to settle has raised the prospect that other claims may follow. The council paid compensation of up to £4,000 to around 100 families affected by the scandal – in which crematorium staff told parents that no ashes from their young child could be collected because the new furnaces were so hot – which prohibited them from taking further legal action.

But it is thought around 80 families failed to accept the compensation award and would be eligible to lodge civil cases similar to Madelaine Cave.

Speaking about the development, Dorothy Maitland, the former leader of the charity which exposed the Mortonhall babies ashes scandal, said: “I know a lot of the parents felt that what they got was ridiculous, but they just didn’t have the strength or the finance to fight it in case they lost.

“Others did refuse and if Madelaine’s case is ultimately successful they may well come forward with their own claims.”

And she added: “I accepted the compensation offer because money was not the be all and end all for me and I wasn’t in a position to fight any further after the truth came out.

“At the end of the day I don’t think I could have gone through two years of this. The council has created a memorial garden at Mortonhall and that is worth more than anything.”

A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council would not comment on whether the full £75,000 would be paid.

He said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on an individual case.”

Ms Cave claimed that she suffered loss, injury and damage through the fault and negligence and breach of duty of the local authority and its employees.

The council had disputed the claim in its defences to the action.

The local authority maintained that the Cremation (Scotland) Regulations of 1935 did not impose civil liability on it and did not confer a right of action for damages against it.

A service will be held on Diana’s birthday.