Mum demands answers from Aldi over lost ashes ring

A woman says she is "absolutely devastated" after she said she was told a lost ring containing her dead son's ashes was thrown away by staff at her local Aldi store.

Donna Dixon, 53, from Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire, said she was told her ring had been handed in to lost property but when she got there it had been disposed of.

“I can get another ring made but he is in a bin somewhere,” she said.

A spokesperson for Aldi said it had not been possible to locate the ring, adding the company was "deeply sorry".

Ms Dixon said she realised she had lost the ring on Sunday 18 February and immediately began looking for it.

She shared a picture to local Facebook groups to see if anyone had handed it in.

She then received a message from a woman who said her partner had found it and given it to staff in Aldi, in Moorland Way, Lincoln.

“I was really happy, I thought, 'that is my ring, I have got it back',” Ms Dixon said.

However, she said when she went to the Aldi store on 22 February to speak to the general manager she was told it had been handed in, but had been thrown away.

“I am absolutely devastated - I am lost for words," she said.

“The ring means everything to me, I lost my son and inside was his ashes, I wore it all the time," she said.

“It is the thought that my son is in a bin somewhere.

"I can get another ring made with the ashes, but he is somewhere in a bin,” she added.

Donna Dixon’s son Declan Wilkinson died after he was hit by a train near a level crossing in Lincoln in 2011.

Ms Dixon took family friend Faye with her to the store.

“Donna had been tracing her steps back every single day since losing the ring," she said.

“She had been going from shop to shop.

"It is just disgusting and shocking.”

"I feel awful for her," Faye added.

"She can get another ring made, but a part of her son has just been disposed of.

"It's not the actual ring she's bothered about, it's the ashes inside - it's part of her son.”

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Regrettably, it has not been possible to locate Ms Dixon’s ring.

"We recognise the sentimental value this has and are deeply sorry.

"We are contacting Ms Dixon to discuss this and plan to review our lost property policy.”