A mother is campaigning to get the rules around mortuaries changed after being denied access to her late son for 10 days.

Rachel Baker, from Knighton, is calling for a change in rules after being denied access to her son Joe after his death last year.

Joe, who worked as a helicopter engineer in the British Navy, died at the scene of a road traffic collision in Yeovil, Somerset, on November 27.

READ MORE: Powys helicopter technician will be sadly missed by Royal Navy colleagues

“On the 27th, two police officers arrived at the door to tell us the news,” said Rachel. “The whole time I was begging to be taken to see him.

“I was told unfortunately that Joe had been taken to Musgrove Mortuary, which is a closed mortuary and that you are unable to see him.

“As the days passed by, I was ringing these numbers sometimes seven times a day, speaking to the coroners office and begging – I even said at one point ‘if you are a parent please just let me see my boy’.

“I had reached a point where I was convincing myself that maybe he was that badly injured they weren’t letting me see him. To the point I wasn’t sleeping I was picturing all sorts, it was a living nightmare.”

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During this time liaison officers for the Baker family from both the police and the Navy were appealing for the mortuary to allow Rachel and her husband to see him.   

“They kept him for 10 days before we got to see our boy,” said Rachel.

“He had his younger brothers and sisters saying ‘we don’t believe it, we’ve not seen him, he’ll come home on Friday’ but me and his dad couldn’t say otherwise because we aren’t being allowed to access him.

“By that time we were so desperate my husband travelled down with the undertakers.

“When he came back I went straight there. I wasn’t made to wait even for a moment. He was laid to rest in a tiny chapel of rest and I viewed Joe still in the bag he’d been sent home in – there wasn’t a mark on him.

“There was no reason as to why I was kept away from my son.”

According to information given to the family the mortuary was changed to a closed mortuary around Covid and due to a lack of space the family weren’t able to see him – despite it being on the same campus as the Musgrove Hospital, the largest in Somerset.

They also told the family that Joe’s body couldn’t be released as the post-mortem was being performed, however the family has since found out it was completed after two days.

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Rachel has now put together a petition calling for families to have access to deceased loved ones.

“Families shouldn't have to fight for the right to mourn their loved ones appropriately", added Rachel. “These deaths are already tragic; they do not need to be made more painful by unnecessary bureaucracy and legalities.”

The County Times approached the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust who run the Musgrove Mortuary to comment on the story.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “We want to extend our condolences to Joe’s family for their loss. We understand that this has been a difficult time for the family, and we’d be keen for them speak to our patient advice and liaison service (PALS) so we can understand their experience.”

You can sign Rachel's petition here