Hull funeral directors probe: Son claims mum is one of 35 bodies recovered

A son claims his mother's body was found "decomposing" in a Hull funeral parlour months after he was told she had been cremated.

Jessie Stockdale, described as a grandmother who "everyone loved", died in November last year.

Her family used Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, now at the centre of a major police investigation.

Colin Stockdale alleges police told his family they suspect she is one of 35 bodies recovered from the parlour.

Humberside Police launched its investigation on 6 March in response to "concern for care of the deceased".

Mr Stockdale said the family were given what they were told were her ashes.

He said he was "fuming" when he was told, via his son, that investigators had found a woman's body, still with an identification tag bearing her name attached to a leg, at the funeral directors in Hessle Road, Hull.

Mr Stockdale, a former fisherman, said: "I was angry as hell. I just wanted to go berserk but you can't. I cried my eyes out.

"It's not right, none of it. It's disgusting.

"Where's my mum's dignity in all this?... We have gone back to Victorian times."

Mr Stockdale said police were refusing to allow him to see his mother's body, now in a city mortuary, until DNA tests formally confirm identity.

"Her body has gone black and she is decomposing," he said.

Mr Stockdale said his family "haven't a clue" whose ashes are in an urn he keeps beside his fireplace.

"The police don't know," he said. "Now they're telling us they can't get DNA from those ashes."

Along with the bodies, a quantity of ashes was also taken from the company's premises in Hessle Road.

On Thursday, at a press conference, Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin said extensive work was continuing to formally identify the 35 bodies recovered from the funeral firm.

It was a lengthy process, Mr McLoughlin said, but added that - once completed - it would "provide families with complete assurances as to the identity of their loved ones" and "repatriation with their families".

He also revealed specialists had been unable to extract DNA from any of the ashes that were recovered.

Mr Stockdale said his family now face the trauma of having "another funeral".

"I just want to get it over," he added. "It's heart-wrenching."

Paying tribute to his mother, Mr Stockdale said "everyone loved her".

He said his mother spent much of her working life cleaning at Hull-based pharmaceutical firm Smith & Nephew.

Mr Stockdale added: "When I was a bairn [child], she would go and work in fish houses until her fingers were blue to get presents for Christmas."

A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, who were arrested on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and decent burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position, remain on police bail.

Victim Support has set up a helpline - 0808 281 1136 - for anyone directly affected by the police investigation.

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