A DISTRAUGHT father has spoken of his shock and anger after discovering a hospital secretly kept his dead baby's organs.

The father-of-two, who does not want to be named, said it was "scandalous" that Newcastle's Freeman Hospital could take 11 of his baby boy's organs without his knowledge.

He and his wife are one of 26 families Newcastle City Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised to for not telling them about removal of organs from patients who have died.

The father, who lives near Durham City, said: "These people think they can take whatever they want - it's scandalous.

"You never get over burying a child, but then to find out part of him was missing was horrendous."

His wife was 20 weeks pregnant with baby Jonathan in 1998 when a problem was discovered with one of his heart valves.

Doctors took the agonising decision that the child could not survive and would have to be aborted.

The couple had their son cremated, but they began asking questions in January this year after contacting a hospital helpline.

They have since learned that their baby was buried without 11 organs, including his brain, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys.

"We had to put our mind at rest, to make sure everything was okay - to find out it wasn't is horrendous," he said.

A post mortem examination on Jonathan was carried out at the Freeman, but the couple have discovered their baby's organs are now being stored in paraffin wax at the city's Royal Victoria Hospital.

The distraught pair are struggling to come to terms with the news and are unsure whether to request the organs back or what further action to take.

Another organ retained at Newcastle General Hospital was the brain of Stephen Longstaff, a haemophiliac from Hartlepool who died in 1986, at the age of 20.

Hospital bosses yesterday apologised for withholding information from relatives about the fate of organs removed for examination.

Professor Alastair Burt, head of cellular pathology at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, said they had received 570 inquiries about organ retention and post-mortem examinations, since a helpline was set up in January.

He said doctors often did not tell relatives to avoid causing further distress.

But he added the NHS now recognised that more information was needed when seeking consent for any procedure.

"Robust procedures have now been put in place," said Prof Burt.

He added that the relatives involved would be invited to discuss what would happen to the organs