Coronavirus: Body 'in industrial fridge for six days'

Umar Afzal was a Home Office interpreter and spoke "half a dozen languages"

A former chief prosecutor said his brother's body was kept in an industrial fridge for six days due to a "300 body backlog" after he died from coronavirus.

Nazir Afzal said his older brother and ex-Home Office interpreter Umar, 71, died at his Birmingham home on 8 April.

"He went to bed that night and then didn't wake up," he said.

"They didn't have any space in the morgue, so arrangements were made with a private undertaker."

Mr Afzal said the undertaker told them he had 14 bodies to pick up that day so was unable to get his brother until 18:00.

"He remained in bed for the best part of eight hours... the family were all there and we wore masks and had gloves.

"The undertaker turned up but it is policy for them not to come into the house, he gave us the body bag, and we carried him down the stairs."

Nazir Afzal said his brother was "kind and professional"

Mr Afzal, the former chief Crown prosecutor for the north-west of England, who initiated prosecutions in the case of the Rochdale sex trafficking gang, said in Islamic tradition the aim is to bury the deceased within 24 hours of a death.

"The coroner advised us they had a 300 body backlog and they said they would get us the certificate after the bank holiday, they worked through that weekend, so credit to them."

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The undertakers had some marquees outside mosques in Birmingham, Mr Afzal said, where they had placed industrial fridges.

"My brother was one of many bodies being kept there, he was there for six days."

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Umar Afzal spoke and could write in "half a dozen languages" and was a self-employed Home Office interpreter, his brother said the father-of-seven was "kind and professional" and appreciated by many.

"He was probably the healthiest of us all, he didn't look his age at all.

"It was testing, beyond testing... it has been really traumatic for whole family, for my mother, who is skin and bone and now she's got a broken heart.

"Ultimately it took us nine days to bury him, all because of the enormous numbers on 8 April".