A MOTHER has spoken for the first time of her heartbreak at being told there were no ashes for her twin sons just weeks after a major inquiry revealed scientific evidence that there would have been remains.
Janice Hunter, 52, visited Daldowie Crematorium in Uddingston in a bid to find out where her boys’ remains were and collect any documentation relating to their cremation after an inquiry conducted by former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini into the baby ashes scandal exposed shocking practices.
In her 400-page National Cremation Investigation report, Angiolini found many crematoria staff had the “extraordinary belief” there would be no recovered ashes from babies up to the age of 18 months despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
Janice attended a meeting with Glasgow City Council’s head of bereavement services David McColl at Daldowie several weeks ago, accompanied by her friend Julie Morrison-Begg, who revealed in The National in June that her own baby’s ashes were found by Dame Elish in a cupboard after 13 years.
Janice said: “I said to Mr McColl that in the light of the investigation which proves there would have been ashes, I wanted to know where my boys’ ashes were and I also asked for all the paperwork relating to their cremation.
“He took down my boys' names and went away with a sheet of paper. He came back in five minutes later with a print-out and confirmed they had cremated Barry and Bradley on September 26. I asked him where my boys' ashes were and he said there would have been no ashes from the babies – even though the investigation said there would have been.
“Both Julie and I were horrified. When he was confronted by Julie, who told him about her own experience, he said he would have to go away and look into it and he still hasn’t come back to me. I’m still waiting and he hasn’t returned any of my calls.”
Janice, of Holytown, Lanarkshire, lost her sons Barry and Bradley on September 23 1996 after finding out she had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a disease of the placenta, and she nearly died when she was forced to give birth 14 weeks early at Bellshill Maternity Hospital.
The mother-of-four said her boys only survived two days, because of complications with their organs, and were cremated together in a small white coffin on September 26 at
Daldowie. At the time Janice was horrified when told by Daldowie staff there were no ashes to collect after the service, but was so distraught that she took staff at their word and tried to come to terms with it.
The inquiry gave her fresh hope of finding her sons’ ashes. She added: “They were the first boys in our family for 50 years and I was devastated when I lost them. They looked perfect when they were born, with really curly white hair and long fingers, but they had problems with their organs because they were so premature.
“They were cremated together in the same white coffin. It was a big funeral service and afterwards I went to collect the ashes to be told there were no ashes. I couldn’t believe it. I was left with nothing but their tiny footprints on a card.
“The national cremation inquiry gave me fresh hope that my boys’ ashes would be found, and that’s why I arranged to meet Mr McCall at Daldowie.”
Julie, of Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, said she was furious when Janice was told there were no ashes. “When we were in the meeting,
Mr McColl didn’t know me, I just said I was a friend there to support her. We were talking about babies’ bones and he said in the 25 years he had done that job he has never found remains.
“Then I told him I was one of the mums involved in the inquiry and have read the report, which says you can get ashes from babies as young as 18 weeks, but he said no. I said, no wonder all these parents are still angry if you are still coming out with that after the report.”
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “Unfortunately, no ashes were able to be recovered in this case, almost 20 years ago. We would agree procedures have changed quite significantly since.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here