PA
Two more families have discovered their dead children's brains were removed from their bodies and kept in jars at Southampton General Hospital.
Melanie Ware from Ferndown, Dorset, lost her three-month-old son Jordon to cot death in 1997. Six weeks ago, she was told his brain had been secretly removed. Melanie and her partner Paul Dixon had thought they had buried their little boy 'whole' after his post mortem.
Another mum, Lisa Burton, 40, who lost her daughter Zoe to epilepsy, was also recently informed her daughter's brain had been removed and stored by the hospital without her knowledge or consent. She told The Sun: "I couldn't believe it. No one had asked permission. I knew samples had to be taken for tests. But not whole organs. Not the brain. It is theft."
The heartbroken mum said she'd had Zoe's brain cremated on the day before her daughter would have turned 18. She said she was 'very angry' and wanted an inquiry.
The youngsters' organs had been removed and kept at the hospital which says it was acting as a 'storage facility' for the police. A spokesperson insisted there was 'no wrongdoing on behalf of the hospital trust' and claimed that their 'involvement in these cases is minimal. We acted as a storage facility for the police/Home Office/coroner.'