A widow who thought she had her husband's ashes made into jewellery has been told she needs to identify his body at a scandal-hit funeral directors.
The unidentified woman has been told she needs to identify her late husband’s body eight months after he died as part of a major police investigation into Legacy International Funeral Directors in Hull, East Yorkshire.
Humberside Police removed the bodies of 35 people and the suspected ashes of a number of others from the funeral directors, describing what they investigated as a "truly horrific incident".
The force pledged to put the "heartbroken families" of those affected at the core of its investigation into the Hull-based directors as it confirmed that a 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman arrested in connection with the inquiry have been released on bail.
Families have accused the chain of giving them the wrong ashes after their loved ones’ funerals.
A friend of a family from Beverley, East Yorkshire, said they were told on Saturday the body of their loved one, who died in July, last year, was still in a freezer at the Legacy Funeral Directors.
The friend told the Telegraph that several women in the family had been wearing jewellery made from the ashes of their late loved one.
They said: “They then paid quite a bit of money to have the ashes turned into crystal jewellery for his widow, daughter and grand-daughter to wear to remember him.
“But now they have found out that he wasn’t cremated and he has been in the freezer all this time.
“Apparently, the police have told them that he could have only been frozen under the direction of the Coroner.
The friend added: “The widow is distraught. The family thought they had his remains, and are now asking ‘if it’s not him, then who is it?’”
They explained the family were now “grieving again” and that they had “lost that closure that a funeral gives you”.
The widow has been told by police that she will have to go and identify her dead husband’s body.
Assistant Chief Constable Thom McLoughlin told reporters more than 1,000 calls had been received from concerned members of the public.
Mr McLoughlin said: "I'd like to take this opportunity to speak directly to the families and loved ones affected by this truly terrible set of circumstances.
"My heart goes out to you all and I can only imagine how distressing and upsetting it will be for you and your families.
"I know that they will want or need much more information than I can give you today.
"But as we progress with the investigation, I want to reassure you that we will provide you updates as soon as we can and I also want to give you a personal commitment that I will do everything possible to give you the answers that you deserve."
He added: "We have now recovered a total of 35 deceased who have now been respectfully transported to the mortuary in Hull and formal identification procedures are now taking place.
"In addition, we have also recovered a quantity of what we suspect to be human ashes.
"We are in the process of carefully recovering all of those ashes and taking those to the mortuary."
The Assistant Chief Constable said the investigation was at a critical stage and the Humberside force was drawing on support nationally with more than 120 officers and staff working on inquiry.
Officers cordoned off three Legacy Independent Funeral Directors sites after the force received a report on Wednesday of concerns about the "storage and management processes relating to care of the deceased".
The bodies were removed between Friday morning and Saturday evening, the force said.
