‘I was given the ashes of a complete stranger instead of my mum’

Police are investigating a funeral home after claims a woman was given ashes of a ‘complete stranger’ instead of her mum in a horrifying mix-up.

Anne Gibson, 66, who lives in Harpurhey with her brother Brian, 61, claims she was handed a box of ashes from A Milne Funeral Directors in Scotland in September - five months after her mum’s funeral.

Anne said she and her brother, originally from Scotland, placed the box of ashes on a shelf alongside their mum’s favourite teddy at their home in Harpurhey. The grieving siblings kept the urn there for months. It 'never crossed their minds' it may not contain their mother's ashes.

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Anne claims that in February of this year when she decided to scatter the ashes she noticed the box did not include any paperwork or a plaque that identified her mother and became suspicious.

“I thought that’s strange there’s nothing saying that that’s my mum,” she said.

The 66-year-old said she called West Dunbartonshire Council to check whether a lack of identification was common practice and was put through to bereavement services who she said advised her to call Clydebank Crematorium, near Glasgow where her mum Patricia Allison was cremated.

It was then, Anne claims, she found out the devastating news that she had been given the ashes of a total stranger.

“A gentleman there [at Clydebank Crematorium] said to me ‘I have never experienced this in the 20 odd years I’ve been here. I’m very sorry I don’t know whose ashes you’ve got but it’s not your mum because I have your mum sitting in front of me’. I was absolutely raging.

“We had put lights up for her and bought her favourite flowers and it wasn’t even her.

“Brian who was extremely close to mum had been kissing the urn every night and I had watched how much he was struggling with the loss. I then had to turn around and say it’s not your mum. It was the hardest thing I had ever done,” she recalled.

Anne said the moment brought her straight back to the day she received the call her mum had passed away aged 100 and having to then break the news to her brother.

“It took us right back to that day, reliving it all over again,” she said.

Anne said her mum Patricia passed away on April 1 last year and had suffered from vascular dementia towards the end of her life. She said her mum took out a pre-paid funeral plan with A Milne Funeral Directors who handled her cremation.

“Mum had told them everything she wanted and all they had to do was collect her body, follow her wishes and return her ashes to the family,” Anne said.

After her mum’s funeral on April 25 last year, Anne claims she kept asking A Milne Funeral Directors for her mum’s ashes and got ‘lots of excuses but no ashes’.

Anne said she told the funeral home that she needed the ashes as she wanted to take them with her to Manchester where she was moving to live with her brother having been diagnosed with cancer. Six months after her mum’s funeral Anne claims she was handed a box of ashes from the undertakers and that she took them in ‘good faith’.

She said the funeral home later called her and said the mix up had been a ‘genuine mistake’. By that point Anne and her brother had had the urn at their home for five months.

Anne said she went to collect her mum’s ashes from the crematorium herself and Brian handed the stranger’s ashes to the police and reported the incident.

Police Scotland said enquiries into the Glasgow and Dumbarton based funeral directors are at an 'early stage'.

A spokesperson from the force said: “An investigation is ongoing into the conduct of a former funeral company that had branches in Glasgow and Dumbarton with regard to the storage/return of cremated remains and allegations of financial misconduct. Enquiries are at an early stage.”

Forensics officers were seen going into a branch of A Milne Funeral Directors in Springburn, Glasgow, after several families reported allegations of ashes going missing, and financial misconduct. The firm’s branch in Dumbarton has now closed.

Anne says she has now found out her mum’s cremation has not been paid for by A Milne Funeral Directors more than a year after she was cremated.

“My mum should have been with her family all along instead she was left in the crematorium for months while we were looking after a complete stranger," she said.

“We paid them [A Milne Funeral Directors] thousands of pounds, we expected dignity, we expected respect and for our wishes to be carried out. My mum paid in advance to make sure there were no worries, no stress and as little upset as possible for her children when she went. She would be horrified if she knew what we were going through,” she said.

Anne claims the £860 council bill has not been paid to Clydebank Crematorium despite her mother having paid £2,500 into a funeral plan five years ago.

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokesperson said: "There is an outstanding balance of £860 owed to the Council by A Milne Funeral Directors in this case."

Anne and her brother have also reported the incident to the Inspectors of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:“Firstly, we want to express our sympathy to Ms Gibson. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring bereaved families are treated with dignity and compassion, which is why we are implementing statutory regulation for the funeral sector.

“This matter has been referred to Police Scotland.”

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) confirmed to the M.E.N that it has received ‘a number of complaints about A Milne’, which have been scrutinised by its committee for professional standards.

A spokeswoman for the NAFD said: “We can confirm that the NAFD has received a number of complaints about A Milne, which have been scrutinised by our committee for professional standards.

“The firm appears to have stopped corresponding with us, however, they have been formally notified that they will be considered by the NAFD disciplinary committee at a meeting in May, where the ultimate sanction we have at our disposal is removal from membership.

“Under the terms of reference of the committee, we do not publicly disclose the details of complaints made.

“As a trade association, we have no statutory powers and regulate purely by consent, therefore expulsion from membership is the most severe penalty at our disposal.”

Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie says she too has received a string of complaints from constituents about A Milne Funeral Directors.

In a statement, she said: “I have asked Police Scotland to investigate the practices of this funeral director and would urge anyone who has had difficulties with A Milne to contact my office.”

The Manchester Evening News has approached A Milne Funeral Directors several times for comment.