Mother's despair at organ removal

Brian and Denise Shorter with daughters Emily 9 and Sophie 4

A mother at the centre of the organ retention scandal told the High Court she was heartbroken when she realised her baby's organs had been removed.

Denise Shorter who lives in Oxford, said she would have delayed stillborn Laura's burial if she had known that she was not "complete".

"She was practically perfect to us in every way and we wanted her buried complete," she said.

The Shorters were one of more than 2,000 families who sued the NHS.

I didn't want her to be hurt. She'd been through enough Denise Shorter

They were awarded £2,750, but the judge said not all the families would be entitled to compensation.

Around two-thirds of the claimants, whose children had hospital post-mortem examinations, may receive pay-outs.

Mr Justice Gage ruled Mrs Shorter had suffered "some measurable and quantifiable psychiatric injury resulting from the discovery by her of organ retention".

Laura, Mrs Shorter's first baby, was stillborn on October 10, 1992.

By 2001 she learned that her brain had been retained and then disposed of.

She said had she known Laura's brain would be retained, she would never have agreed to the post-mortem.

"I didn't want her to be hurt. She'd been through enough."