DOCTORS who store body parts after a patient's death without the consent of relatives are to be jailed under a new law, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Health Secretary John Reid will tell MPs today that the long-awaited Human Tissues Bill will impose prison sentences on hospital doctors who carry out the illegal practice.

The crackdown follows the shock revelations that hundreds of dead children were stripped of their organs at hospitals in Liverpool and Bristol.

At Alder Hey Children's Hospital, in Liverpool, Dutch pathologist Professor Dick van Velzen was found to have lied to parents and forged research applications.

A Government investigation later revealed that the practice was common across the country, including at least six hospitals in the North-East and Yorkshire.

It was found that up to 500 body parts were stored by NHS trusts in South Durham, South Tees, South Tyneside, York and Northumbria.

A total of 2,700 were retained at hospitals in Newcastle, the sixth highest tally anywhere in the country.

Last night, families in the region whose relatives' organs were secretly kept welcomed the Bill. Brian Storey, of North-East Retained Organ Family Support (Nero), said: "It is really good news. There are so many people who still do not know the truth and too many people who are frightened to ask.

"We still don't know how many families were affected in the North-East, but it will be thousands. The families were burying an empty shell and knew nothing about it."

The father of a baby boy whose organs were retained by Newcastle's Freeman Hospital said the law should have been changed a long time ago.

The man, who asked not to be named, said: "What I find astounding is how the law hasn't been changed up to now. They have known for years that this was going on. When you think about what these doctors were doing, it is horrendous."

The Department of Health has already pledged that the Bill will outlaw the "removal, storage and use" of human tissue without proper consent.

Today, Parliament will be told that the Government it has decided to plug a legal loophole by introducing fines and even jail terms for doctors who disobey the new rules.

Trafficking in human bodies or body parts and using human tissue for DNA testing without consent will also be made specific offences for the first time.

The Human Tissue Bill is being brought forward to replace the Human Tissue Act of 1961, which the Government has accepted was riddled with holes.

Organ retention was not illegal, allowing hospitals across the country to store them, resulting in the burial of incomplete bodies.

Speaking earlier this year, Professor Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said: "It has become apparent that the current law in this area is neither comprehensive nor always as clear and consistent as it might be.

"Some legislation is working well enough. Aspects of the Human Tissue Act 1961, on the other hand, are manifestly inadequate and out-of-date."

Hospitals have already been issued with interim guidance, requiring them to obtain the informed consent of the family. Now they will be given a standardised consent form and a code of practice will be drawn up to ensure common standards across the country.