Dozens of remains stored by a funeral director accused of fraud will never be identified, in a “devastating” blow to families.
Humberside Police said it was impossible to recover any meaningful identification as the DNA profile was degraded during the cremation process.
The traditional independent funeral home in Hull, Yorkshire, was raided in March over concerns about the care of the deceased.
Around 35 bodies and “suspected human ashes” were removed from one of its three branches, with a 46-year-old man and 23-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of fraud and preventing a proper burial.
A spokesman for Humberside Police said: “We have been working closely with forensic scientists and experts to assess whether it is possible to extract DNA from human ashes for identification purposes.
“While expert opinion assures us that appropriate procedures were followed at the crematorium; unfortunately, given the high temperatures required for cremation, the DNA will be broken down and degraded to such an extent that we will not be able to recover a meaningful DNA profile.
“This means we are unable to identify any human ashes. This is, of course, devastating news for the family and loved ones and I offer you my heartfelt condolences at this difficult time.”
Police added that they had received more than 2,000 calls from members of the public concerned about the identity of their loved ones’ ashes.
The family of a grieving widow have been left devastated after they were told police found her husband’s body in a freezer.
widow’s friend Tell telegraph: “But now they discovered he had not been cremated and had been kept in the refrigerator.
“Apparently the police told them he could only be frozen on the instructions of the coroner.
The widow was distraught. The family thought they had found his body and now asked: “If it wasn’t him, who was it?” “
Families have reportedly been told they must re-identify the bodies of their deceased loved ones.
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