Bodies scandal 'was a set-up'

The chapel of rest was used as a mortuary

Bodies left in a hospital chapel were tampered with before newspaper photographs were taken, an internal inquiry has decided.

Staff at Bedford General Hospital say that "persons unknown" had uncovered the faces and feet of the bodies to make the situation look worse than it actually was.

The distressing pictures, which appeared in the Bedfordshire on Sunday in January, led to the resignation of the then chief executive Ken Williams.

One reader recognised the face of her recently-deceased relative from the newspaper photographs.

An inquiry by the NHS regional office discovered that it was common practice to store bodies in the chapel if the mortuary was full - managers were heavily criticised in their report.

As the death of the man whose face was pictured was under investigation by the coroner, the hospital was ordered to conduct a separate inquiry into how the journalist and photographer had managed to gain access to the chapel.

Portering staff interviewed all denied that they had been responsible for either giving the newspaper access to the building, or tampering with the coverings on the bodies.

They were adamant that the bodies had been fully-covered when left in the room.

Denied by journalists

The editor of the Bedfordshire on Sunday was also insistent that neither he, nor the photographer, had moved any of the body coverings.

The report concluded that security in the mortuary area was poor - even though the doors were locked, the keys were available to a great many members of staff.

It recommended that managers call in private security firms for advice.

It added that there were "serious management failures" in the buying, installation and repair of a temporary mortuary unit needed to prevent the chapel being needed as an overflow.

The hospital's medical director, Dr Jeremy Saunders, said: "We will be following the recommendations about further improving security at the mortuary.

"We now have a new temporary extension to the mortuary that can accommodate an extra 36 bodies.

"If in future, capacity is reached, plans have been made to remove bodies to other dedicated storage facilities."