monk_i
10-02-2015, 13:36
Two former mortuary workers have been arrested on suspicion of desecrating a Muslim woman’s body by covering it with rashers of bacon, it emerged today.
A third man has also been arrested for allegedly stealing items from bodies at the same mortuary.
When detectives raided his home in Uxbridge, west London, they found 2,000 photographs and slides of corpses.
The desecration of the body of the Muslim woman, a 65-year-old grandmother who died of cancer on January 17, was discovered at Hillingdon Hospital mortuary in west London.
It is strictly against the Muslim religion to touch or eat pork and detectives are treating it as a religiously or racially motivated crime.
Officers are also investigating the desecration of a second woman’s body at the same mortuary in 1996.
The body of the white woman had been marked with a pen.
The hospital conducted an internal inquiry in 1996 but did not inform police or the woman’s family.
They have now been told by detectives and are “very distressed”.
The two men arrested over the desecration of the Muslim woman’s body were held on suspicion of “causing a public nuisance” and have been released on police bail.
A 20-year-old man was held on May 16 and bailed to June 12 and a 30-year-old man was arrested on May 19 and bailed until June 20, police revealed today.
The 53-year-old man arrested on suspicion of theft is not being linked to the incident of desecration.
He is on police bail and is due to return for further questioning this Wednesday.
He has been suspended from his job at the hospital.
David McVittie, chief executive of the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust, said: “If anyone who worked for us interfered with bodies in the mortuary, that is a deeply shocking fact.
“I offer my sincere apologies to the family of any person who may have been abused in this way.
“Although no one could imagine anyone carrying out these appalling acts, we have made absolutely sure it cannot happen again by stopping anyone from working alone in the mortuary and keeping it locked at all other times.
“We are co-operating fully with the police investigation as well as carrying out our own independent inquiry.
“This cannot be allowed to happen again, in our hospital or any other.”
bron.
A third man has also been arrested for allegedly stealing items from bodies at the same mortuary.
When detectives raided his home in Uxbridge, west London, they found 2,000 photographs and slides of corpses.
The desecration of the body of the Muslim woman, a 65-year-old grandmother who died of cancer on January 17, was discovered at Hillingdon Hospital mortuary in west London.
It is strictly against the Muslim religion to touch or eat pork and detectives are treating it as a religiously or racially motivated crime.
Officers are also investigating the desecration of a second woman’s body at the same mortuary in 1996.
The body of the white woman had been marked with a pen.
The hospital conducted an internal inquiry in 1996 but did not inform police or the woman’s family.
They have now been told by detectives and are “very distressed”.
The two men arrested over the desecration of the Muslim woman’s body were held on suspicion of “causing a public nuisance” and have been released on police bail.
A 20-year-old man was held on May 16 and bailed to June 12 and a 30-year-old man was arrested on May 19 and bailed until June 20, police revealed today.
The 53-year-old man arrested on suspicion of theft is not being linked to the incident of desecration.
He is on police bail and is due to return for further questioning this Wednesday.
He has been suspended from his job at the hospital.
David McVittie, chief executive of the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust, said: “If anyone who worked for us interfered with bodies in the mortuary, that is a deeply shocking fact.
“I offer my sincere apologies to the family of any person who may have been abused in this way.
“Although no one could imagine anyone carrying out these appalling acts, we have made absolutely sure it cannot happen again by stopping anyone from working alone in the mortuary and keeping it locked at all other times.
“We are co-operating fully with the police investigation as well as carrying out our own independent inquiry.
“This cannot be allowed to happen again, in our hospital or any other.”
bron.