Imagine the horror of burying your dead baby not once but three times.
Janine Aldridge has faced the unimaginable. The police kept her five-week-old child Leah’s organs for evidence – without telling her. And she’s not alone.
Now this brave mum is taking legal action against them.
Not for compensation but for justice for Leah, who was shaken to death by her father.
Janine wants everyone to know how betrayed she felt.
The people she trusted to deliver justice let her bury her daughter without her heart, brain and other organs.
If Janine wins, it may open the floodgates to hundreds of families whose grief was prolonged after discovering parts of their loved ones were in mortuaries and hospitals.
There is no argument against police retaining some body parts for evidence or in case of appeals. But the widespread “oversight” of failing to inform families – especially after cases were concluded – is horrendous.
Janine faces a lengthy legal battle… but why should she?
Surely families should have been offered payments for their distress long before now?
Some will argue families have already received criminal compensation for their loss.
And that there is no public money to fund a mass payout.
For Janine and many families this is not about money. It’s about recompense for the inhumane way their dead relatives have been stripped of organs without permission.
It’s about redress for standing by a grave, believing you are burying your child whole when you are not.
The Government should financially acknowledge the pain of all involved.
Bury train strain
Campaigner are calling for railway reforms across the UK. And not before time.
As Northern cities lag behind London’s world-class integrated travel system, the public is set to be hit with yet another rise in fares while enduring the same old unreliable, costly service.
We all know that using public transport aids the environment.
It’s time for things to change so we can get services – and the world we inhabit – back on track.
