Murder victims’ body parts kept by police for years

Police in Avon and Somerset said they had retained organs or tissue belonging to around 110 people after post-mortem examinations over the past 25 years.

The news comes after the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) ordered an audit of human organs that had been held as evidence.

A spokeswoman for Acpo said Avon and Somerset is one of the first forces to complete the report and most others have not yet disclosed their findings.

Over the last few weeks officers have been visiting families and they now say they are confident all those affected have been contacted.

In a joint statement, Avon coroner Maria Voisin and Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen said: “We understand that this may be very upsetting for families who have been affected and are providing all the support we can to help them at this difficult time.

“Specially-trained family liaison officers have personally visited each family to explain the situation and give guidance about what this actually means.

“If your family has not had such a visit, then you can be assured that you are not affected by this matter.

Organs and other tissue samples taken were from deaths prior to September 2006 when a change in the law meant that relatives had to be informed of any body parts that were retained.

Police said when a suspicious or unexplained death occured they had a duty to take every possible step to establish the cause of death, which routinely involved the retention of material taken from bodies at post-mortem examinations.

“Sometimes further analysis of tissue is also important in the ensuing criminal investigation and may be a critical evidential factor in bringing an offender to justice,” Ms Voisin and Mr Hansen said.

“Examination by experts such as neuropathologists and defence counsel teams can take a long time and, in criminal cases, tissue evidence may also have to be preserved for longer so that it is available in the event of an appeal or a legal challenge.”

The force said most of the families visited have been generally appreciative of their approach to the sensitive matter and their rationale behind it.