Helpline for brain theft relatives

An inquiry found tens of thousands of brains were stripped from corpses

A woman who fought for an investigation into the unlawful removal of brains from corpses for research says help is available for those who want to find out about their relatives.

Elaine Isaacs campaigned for an inquiry after she learned that the brain of her husband, Cyril, had been given to researchers at Manchester University without her consent after he committed suicide.

The subsequent government inquiry found that tens of thousands of brains of mentally ill or depressed people were kept without consent across the UK between 1970 and 1999.

Mrs Isaacs, of Whitefield, Greater Manchester, said a helpline run by the Retained Organs Commission had now been set up to help people affected by the scandal.

Religious laws

She began her campaign after discovering that her husband's brain had been incinerated after being kept for seven years because it did not meet the researchers' criteria.

As a practising Jew she said she would never have agreed to any part of his body being removed as religious laws required the body to be buried intact.

A report by Dr Jeremy Metters, the HM Inspector of Anatomy, condemned the practice of taking organs without consent and recommended it should be made a criminal offence.

The government has since promised new laws to prevent the practice being carried out in the future.

The helpline number is on 0800 838 909.