Man charged with sex acts on bodies at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby

A man has appeared in court charged with performing sexual acts on corpses in a hospital mortuary.Damon Tingay, 29, of no fixed address, is accused of three offences allegedly carried out at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, on Sunday, 17 March.

He is charged firstly with trespassing with the intention of committing sexual offences, secondly with causing a nuisance by entering the mortuary as a trespasser and interfering with a number of corpses by performing sexual acts, and thirdly with performing an act of penetration on a body.

Mr Tingay was initially arrested on suspicion of burglary following an alleged break-in at the mortuary on Sunday.

Dressed in a grey tracksuit, he spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth when he appeared at Grimsby Magistrates' Court. He did not enter a plea.

District Judge Daniel Curtis remanded him in custody to appear at Grimsby Crown Court on 22 April.

Det Ch Insp Nicole Elliott, of Humberside Police, said: "The details of this report will cause concern and I want to offer my assurance we have been treating this incident as a priority.

"We are working incredibly closely with our partners at the NHS and the coroner, to ensure all family members of the deceased who were inside the mortuary have been contacted, and our specially trained officers are continuing to support the families of those who have been affected."

She added that the investigation was not linked to the high-profile probe into Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull.

She said: “Understandably, the nature of this report will cause alarm, especially considering other investigations Humberside Police have been dealing with over the last few weeks in Hull and East Yorkshire. However I want to offer my reassurance that we believe this incident to be an isolated incident and not connected to any other investigation."

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