A grieving widow has been left devastated after she was informed that authorities had discovered her husband’s body in a freezer, despite already having had his "ashes" turned into jewelry.
Law enforcement in Yorkshire, UK, removed 35 corpses and the ashes of others from a funeral directors' freezer, with the intention of investigating the “truly horrific incident”.
After her husband died in July last year, the widow and other close family members including his daughter and granddaughter had paid a large sum of money to have his ashes turned into crystal jewellery.
A friend of the family told The Telegraph: “But now they have found out that he wasn’t cremated and he has been in the freezer all this time. Apparently, the police have told them that he could have only been frozen under the direction of the coroner.
“The widow is distraught. The family thought they had his remains, and are now asking, ‘If it’s not him, then who is it?’”
It has been reported that the family were told that they will unfortunately have to re-identify their loved one's body.
Humberside Police vowed to put the “heartbroken families” at the center of the ongoing investigation and revealed at a press conference that they had received more than 1,000 calls from members of the public concerning the mix up.
The case is being worked on by more than 100 police officers and specialist staff.
Meanwhile, a 46-year-old unnamed man and a 23-year-old unnamed woman have been released on bail after police arrested the pair in connection with the case.
Billie-Jo Suffill, 33, who lost her 52-year-old father and 34-year-old brother in the space of five days believes she kissed an empty coffin as she bid farewell to her father.
She has suggested that her brother’s ashes could belong to another deceased person. She said: “I never actually got to see my dad’s body. I bet my dad was not even in the coffin – it was an empty coffin. I was kissing an empty coffin. When I think about it now it is disgusting.”
Deputy chief constable David Marshall told reporters in North Ferriby on Tuesday (March 12): “We are continuing to support the families involved through this extremely difficult and distressing time.”
He acknowledged that families were “understandably distraught” and said there were still so many questions that need to be answered.
He added: “Many will be shocked, horrified and retraumatised through grief following the disclosure of the facts of this case this week.”
Police cordoned off three Legacy Independent Funeral Directors sites after they received a report on Wednesday (March 13) related to the “storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased”.
The bodies were taken away between Friday morning and Saturday evening for formal identification, which is currently taking place at Hull’s city mortuary.
Emma Hardy, MP for Hull West and Hessle, told BBC Radio 5 Live it had been a “complete shock to me and complete shock to the community”.
She said: “Everybody’s just reeling from it. People are not quite believing that something’s happened and there are hundreds of questions, which I completely understand everybody has at the moment.
“There are lots of different questions around ashes, around people who are still living and have plans with the company and, of course, questions from the families very closely involved. It’s impacted everybody.”
