Interment of former West Midlands MEP comes 11 months after wrong body cremated
The ashes of former West Midlands MEP Philip Bradbourn have finally been laid to rest almost 11 months after he died, a close friend confirmed today.
The wrong body was cremated at Mr Bradbourn's funeral at Bushbury Crematorium in January following a mix-up over the spelling of his name.
A second cremation was held in February at a service attended by only four people, but a series of delays mean the 63-year-old's ashes have were not interred until this week.
A close friend of Mr Bradbourn confirmed that his ashes had been interred at Bushbury Crematorium on Tuesday.
He has been laid to rest in a burial remains plot alongside his parents at the site on Underhill Lane. The friend said changing Mr Bradbourn's parents burial plot required home office approval, which contributed towards the delay.
Mr Bradbourn died on December 20 last year at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield following a battle with cancer.
His funeral took place in January. However, the man who was cremated was Philip Bradburn, who had died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on December 24.
Staff at Good Hope Hospital's mortuary repeatedly failed to carry out accurate identity checks on the two bodies, the Heart of England NHS Trust said in a report last week.
Written records were either not completed, incomplete or inaccurately doctored, leading to confusion over two similar sounding surnames, it added. Bosses at Heart of England NHS Trust have apologised.
