A man says he doesn’t know if ashes given to him by a funeral home police are investigating were his wife’s.

Mike Collinson lived with his wife Jean for 50 years until her death in November.

Her family asked Heritage Independent Funeral Directors in Hull to arrange cremation.

However, last month Humberside Police raid family-run business.

They arrested two men, a 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, on suspicion of preventing a lawful and dignified burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position.

They have since been released on bail and investigations continue.

Police contacted Mr Collinson about a week after they raided the funeral home.

He told Sky News: “They called me and said can we come and see you because one of the coffins had Gene’s name on it.

“I thought, Oh my gosh, what’s going on here, and I said, ‘Is Gene in there?’ and they said, ‘We don’t know, and we don’t know what’s in the other coffins.’”

During a news conference Thursday, Assistant Chief Thom McLoughlin Police say they have received more than 2,000 calls from concerned members of the public and over 700 families were contacted.

Like Mr Collinson, a “significant number” of those calls were about concerns about the identification of loved ones’ ashes.

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After a family gathering in the pub, Mr Collinson felt his wife’s death had brought closure.

He said: “I thought, yeah, we had said goodbye, I thought that was it. When they said, oh, we have a casket with Gene’s name on it. It was devastating. To go through it all again.”

He added that he now faces the possibility of having to say goodbye again.

Mr Collinson continued: “It’s the uncertainty, not knowing what’s actually going on, you know?

“[I’ve] There were some ashes, placed in the correct box at the crematorium, with Gene’s name, date of birth and date of death, still sealed.

“But I still don’t know if they’re hers.”

Detectives have been working “around the clock” since then, police said raised concerns “About Storage and Management Processes Related to Deceased Care.”

But speaking on Thursday, Mr McLaughlin said officials Unable to identify human ashes Recover from business.

He said: “While expert opinion provides us with reassurance that crematorium procedures have been followed, unfortunately, given the high temperatures required for cremation, DNA will be broken down and degraded to such a level that we will not be able to recover it. Meaningful DNA profiles.

“This means we are unable to identify any ashes. This is of course devastating news for the family and loved ones and I offer you my heartfelt condolences at this difficult time.”