Hull mum to meet Justice Secretary with renewed calls for baby ashes inquiry

Tina Trowhill's son's ashes were scattered without her knowledge

Author: Ben BasonPublished 26th Jun 2019

Hull parents, who've been devastated by the baby ashes scandal, are taking their fight for answers to the government.

Tina Trowell will meet the Justice Secretary David Guake today - her son William's ashes were scattered without her permission back in 1994.

A number of grieving Hull parents went through the same thing and, although there have been council investigations, there have long been calls for a local public inquiry into the scandal.

Tina's told us they're still waiting for answers on how it happened:

"For all the parents it's extraordinarily frustrating. The more we find out, the more we see where there's been mistakes made but there's still no clarity about why these mistakes were made. But the one thing the parents in the group are very clear about is they will not give up this fight.

"In some ways it takes you right back to when you actually give birth to your babies. And you're kind of stuck there. Parents just need to know what went so terribly wrong and also they need the reassurance that it can never ever happen again.

Tina's being taken to the Justice Secretary by her MP Diana Johnson who's called for an independent inquiry into what happened.

Tina says she's hoping it'll be a constructive meeting:

"I want to explain to him how the parents in Hull feel. That they've had no answers whatsoever, that the council has been not always entirely honest and open and really they've not given the parents any clear answers as to why these dreadful things happened.

"I'm hoping that maybe he can offer his support or some advice as to where we go next really because we've been fighting this since November 2014. The sad thing is the council could have had the inquiry by now and parents could be starting that process and moving on."

A spokesperson for Hull City Council said:

“We would once again express our deepest sympathy to all the families affected by this issue in Hull and around the country. Our position remains that we do not think that a local public inquiry in Hull will provide any additional information than our existing investigations, or the previous inquiries in Emstrey and Shropshire, already have done.

"We have followed the recommendations made by the Ministry of Justice to publicise what we have done and they have acknowledged that we have worked extensively with affected families and with our partners to change local processes and procedures.

"The Ministry of Justice has already confirmed that, rather than carrying out further historic investigations, we should concentrate our resources on continuing our work and contributing to the National Working Group, which has been set up and continues to advise the Government and other cremation authorities on the improvement of cremation practice."