Calls For Local Inquiry Into Baby Ashes Scandal
Hull mum Tina Trowhill says she knows she might never get all the answers she deserves after her baby son's ashes were scattered without her knowing back in 1994.
A Hull mum whose baby's ashes were scattered without her knowledge says she worries she might never find out exactly how it happened.
The ashes of Trowhill's stillborn son, William, were dispersed without her consent back in 1994 and over 20 years on she is still waiting for answers.
Earlier this week a report - which investigated similar cases in Shrewsbury - concluded that crematoriums should now have national inspectors.
But Tina thinks there also needs to be a local inquiry into the issue. She told Viking FM:
"I just want somebody to explain what went so horrendously wrong and I also want to make sure that it can never happen again to anybody else. It's okay them telling me now that things are different now but what's to say it won't slip back if there isn't any sort of national procedures for all crematoriums to work to?
"That maybe the case but I have to do as much as I can to secure the answers, if I don't at the end of it then at least I have done everything physically possible to get answers and that's as much as I'll be able to do.
"I can understand why some parents even now don't want to come forward because sometimes it's easier to carry on thinking that there weren't any ashes. The crematorium have said they can show me where his ashes are but they don't really know where they are from 20 years ago. It seems as if they are somewhere in the area of the baby cemetary but we don't know where.
"I really hope there is a local inquiry because I think that's the only way that we will get any answers to the concerns that we've raised. They did originally offer a scrutiny committee but to me that's not transparent enough. It needs to be something that's transparent and that parents that have been affected can see that this has been dealt with and maybe get some answers at the end of it as to how this has happened.
"I don't feel the inquiry in Shrewsbury addresses the issues in Hull because in Hull they are clearly saying yes they collected the ashes and strew them but in Shewsbury they said they didn't collect any ashes so the Shrewsbury report can't answer the issues in Hull."
A Hull City Council spokesperson said:
“We understand how distressing and important an issue this is for all families who have lost their babies.
“We will take our time to reflect on the findings and recommendations of the Shropshire report. Working with the hospital and the funeral directors we have already undertaken changes to the processes we had in place and agree that there needs to be a consistency in all crematoria across the country.”
Hull MP Diana Johnson raised the issue in Parliament yesterday. She asked:
"In the light of the publication of the Shrewsbury report on the baby ashes issue earlier this week, and of the fact that this is an issue in many constituencies up and down the land, including my own, where the family of Mike and Tina Trowhill have been affected, may we please have a statement from the Government on what assistance they will offer to local councils to carry out independent inquiries into what happened to babies’ ashes in those local areas?"
Leader of the House of Commons, Chris Grayling responded by saying:
"This is an enormously sensitive issue, and our hearts go out to the families affected. They have had to go through not only the trauma of losing a child but the aftermath that the hon. Lady has described. I know that my colleagues are carefully considering that report, and they will seek to deal with the matter sensitively and appropriately. They will come forward with their response in due course."