A YORK mother has held a second funeral for her son, who was stillborn eight years ago, after being given tissue samples that were removed and stored after his death.

The second burial held this week means that Sharon Sellars, 29, of Barkston Grove, York, has finally put her son, Shaun Robert, to rest, after years of uncertainty.

York Hospitals NHS Trust informed Mrs Sellars in February this year that slides and tissue samples taken from her son, Shaun, in 1995 had been discovered following a "manual search".

Mrs Sellars was previously told that any tissues would have either been returned to her son's body prior to his funeral or destroyed, in line with practice at the time.

Mrs Sellars discovered that baby Shaun was dead in week 28 of her pregnancy and she was induced into labour and gave birth to him in 1995. He weighed just 2lb3oz.

Although she believed that something was wrong at his first burial, because he was in a sealed coffin and she was unable to see him, she only contacted the trust in 2001 in the light of the Alder Hay organ retention scandal.

This week the Sellars family, including Sharon's husband Steven, their children, Liam, Kieran and Shauna, and her parents, Kathleen and Brian, attended a funeral service at Fulford where tissue samples were buried with Shaun's body.

Kathleen Sellars, 54, said the family could finally put Shaun to rest.

She said: "We knew things weren't right at the time when it came to his burial, but we did nothing about it until the Alder Hey scandal. Now, apparently after eight years, it came to light that they had kept some tissues and slides. It shouldn't have happened, but it did happen.

"I think that after eight years we have put an end to it now. We've put Shaun to rest, that's the main thing."

Canon Glyn Webster, who christened Shaun at the hospital and conducted Shaun's original funeral, also led this week's service, which was paid for by the trust.

A spokesman for York Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Any correspondence regarding Shaun Sellars must be conducted through the solicitors of Sharon Sellars.

"The Trust cannot disclose any information regarding the matter."

Updated: 11:08 Friday, July 25, 2003