A GRIEVING mother has told how a mistake meant her daughter was cremated under the wrong name - 16 years after her organs were removed by hospital staff.

Jan Gregory, of Burton Green, Clifton, discovered in May that York District Hospital had retained body tissue from Emma Louise, her twin daughter who was stillborn 16 years ago.

Last week, family and friends gathered at York Crematorium to say their final goodbyes.

But a blunder meant the casket carrying the remains of Emma showed the name Emily.

Jan said: "It has been hard to come to terms with the fact that Emma had had parts of her removed when we cremated her 16 years ago, but I thought this could make her whole again, and that we could now put it behind us.

"To be honest, I don't feel we have done what we wanted to do. This was supposed to be the end of it all, but I feel like I have done it for somebody else, not Emma."

She said Emma's twin sister, Gemma, had been affected badly.

"It's left a 16-year-old girl convinced that we still haven't cremated the correct parts, that we haven't put her sister together again," said Jan.

"I came close to cancelling the service, but I couldn't because I have got kids to think about."

Jan, who also has a 15-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter, contacted York District Hospital after hearing about the Alder Hey organ retention scandal, in which a Liverpool hospital was found to have kept body parts of babies, and the subsequent discovery that body parts had been kept by York District Hospital.

She said: "I didn't think it would have happened to Emma, but I wanted to confirm it to stop me wondering.

"Finding out that it had was hard to deal with, but this really has made it a lot worse.

"I wanted to cremate these tissues to make her whole again, but I had no feelings at the service. I carried the casket, but felt nothing because it had a different name on it.

"I feel so guilty about that."

Mike Proctor, the director of nursing for York Health Services NHS Trust, said: "We regret that the name was wrong, and we are investigating how it happened to make sure it never happens again. Whoever is at fault will apologise.".

"Obviously, we can't put it right for this lady, and we regret the distress that has been caused to her."

Updated: 10:45 Tuesday, December 11, 2001