A FAMILY at the centre of the Alder Hey Children's Hospital scandal today told of the catalogue of errors which has marred their heartbreaking quest to bury their son's organs.

Jim and Julie Wright's son William Thomas died aged just 11 and a half weeks after a routine operation at the Liverpool hospital in 1993.

The grieving couple and their six children visited William's grave at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Osbaldeston, every week without realising he had been buried without his entire organ system.

But two months ago the Langho family's lives were shattered after they received a letter from Alder Hey asking them to get in touch to see if their son was one of the 850 babies whose organs were allegedly removed without parental consent during post mortem examinations at the hospital.

Three weeks ago Mr Wright wrote to the hospital's chief executive Hilary Rowland asking for an assurance that all his son's organs would be returned to the family intact, and for details as to how they would be returned to the family, but he says he still has not received a reply. He said: "I asked for a reply within seven days and even included my funeral director's details, but by yesterday a reply still hadn't arrived. I rang the hospital today to be told that when we went to collect our son's organs we should just ask for somebody called Tom.

"They said that my son's remains had been ready for collection in a casket for days, but still nobody had contacted me.

"I think the hospital has handled this whole situation in a completely unacceptable way and they have made a total mess of it. All this has degraded the whole situation even further, it is so hard to cope with."

The Wright family plan to have a second funeral to bury William's organs alongside his body, which was buried six years ago. Mr Wright said: "I feel that we should have had a personal reply from Hilary Rowland. Each family's case is seperate and should be treated as such."

A spokesperson for Alder Hey Children's Hospital confirmed that Mr Wright had spoken to one of the link workers about the case.

Last night Health Secretary Alan Milburn announced that an independant inquiry was being launched and Mr Wright plans to get in touch with his local MP Nigel Evans, who yesterday described the siutation as "appalling and unacceptable".

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.