A PRESTWICH couple are considering legal action against a Manchester hospital after they learned that it has kept their dead son's brain for almost two years without their knowledge.

Andrew and Julie Sullivan must now re-live the agonising ordeal of laying their eight-year-old old son Mark to rest for the second time, only two months short of the second anniversary of his death.

The youngster severed his finger when it became stuck in a bike chain in 1998. Surgeons managed to sew it back on but he failed to recover from the anaesthetic. Mark was later cremated.

However, Mark's his parents have now learned that his brain was retained by Royal Manchester Children's Hospital without their knowledge. The truth was revealed after the Sullivans received a letter from Manchester coroner Mr Leonard Gorodkin asking whether the family wanted his brain to be disposed of by the hospital or if they wanted to arrange a cremation.

Mr Sullivan, of Carr Avenue, Prestwich, said: "We still have not had an inquest into Mark's death. Now we learn that his brain was kept by the hospital.

"It was such a shock and we are disgusted that Mark was not cremated whole. We were not told or asked permission and we did not sign anything allowing the hospital to do this."

The coroner wrote to the family in light of new guidelines created after the Alder Hey scandal. The Liverpool hospital kept dead children's organs without their parents' knowledge.

"Nearly two years after he died and was cremated, and still not knowing why he died, we will now hold a second funeral for our son. It is the right thing to do," said Mr Sullivan.

A spokesman for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital said: "The Trust has always followed the procedures for carrying out post mortems as laid down by the Royal College of Pathologists and has recently, in light of new guidelines received from the NHS, modified information given to parents about post mortems."

In his letter, Mr Gorodkin said that pathologist Dr Melanie Newbould had recently contacted him to say that Mark's brain was not returned before the funeral because the examination took several weeks to complete.

The Sullivans, who have two other sons, have informed their solicitor about their latest ordeal.