Grieving mother in mortuary row fights on

Rachel Baker said her concerns had not been addressed by the NHS trust that manages the mortuary

A woman who was unable to see her son's body for 10 days said a meeting with the NHS trust that manages the mortuary did not address her concerns.

Rachel Baker's 20-year-old Royal Navy engineer son, Joe, died in a crash in November 2023 while travelling to his base in Yeovilton, Somerset.

Mrs Baker said Somerset NHS Foundation Trust told her they only gave next of kin access "under exceptional circumstances".

The trust said it could not allow access until directed by the coroner, but also apologised and said communication was not clear.

But Mrs Baker said she was left without answers and has enlisted the help of her MP.

She said Joe's body had been taken to Musgrove Park Hospital mortuary in Taunton.

"Quickly, it became evident that under no circumstances was I going to be able to see Joe," she said.

"They couldn't give me a timescale or any detail as to how badly injured he was.

"We were just constantly met with, 'it's protocol, there's not much information we can give you at this time'."

Mrs Baker, from Hoptonheath on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border, is now campaigning for Joe's Law, which would give families immediate access to their deceased loved ones.

She said, after her meeting with the trust, that it had decided to make a change.

But she said: "The only change they've now agreed to is the fact that moving forward, they've decided that between the trust and the coroner that they're going to liaise more. So basically they're going to talk to each other."

"They do let next of kin in to see their loved ones under exceptional circumstances," she added.

"You've just been told your son's dead. It doesn't get more exceptional than that, so I asked them to explain what their exceptional circumstances were, to which they couldn't reply."

A spokesman for the NHS trust said the family described their very painful experience of not being able to see Joe's body for 10 days after his death.

He said the meeting was an opportunity to look at the law and to understand how to better work with the coroner.

He said: "We could not enable access to Joe's body until directed by the coroner after the post-mortem had taken place and the inquest opened.

"Communication with Joe's family between our trust and the coroner's office was not clear enough and we are very sorry for this, and the distress it caused his family."