Investigation after families not told about stored organs at North East hospital

The daughter of a Newcastle man, whose organs were discovered at the hospital, has threatened legal action. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Police are contacting a number of families, after it was discovered that organs and other human samples had been stored for 'longer than necessary' at a North East hospital.

The organs were discovered at South Tyneside District Hospital, in South Shields, during an audit in March 2015.

Northumbria and Cleveland Police are now working together to identify the samples, which can be legally kept as part of investigations into a person's death.

Specially-trained officers are personally visiting each family to explain the situation.

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Sarah Simpson from Newcastle told ITV News Tyne Tees that her father's organs had been taken without his family's knowledge and stored at the hospital.

Her father Terry Simpson died after falling from a block of flats in Newcastle in April 1995 and his family cremated him believing his body was intact.Sarah says police officers told her his brain, part of his heart and other organs have been stored at the hospital.

South Tyneside Foundation Trust have not commented on why the samples were being kept, but Northumbria police say they're dealing with cases that happened between 1991 and 2000.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said:

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Theaker, who is leading the operation, added: