Shropshire baby ashes petition nears 5,000 target

Rebecca Adams, of Shrewsbury, who is vice chairman of Action for Ashes, said the group now has more than 4,000 people backing its demand for changes in legislation.

The group, which was set up to represent parents who received no ashes after their children were cremated at Emstrey Crematorium in Shrewsbury, wants the return of ashes to be a legal requirement. Mrs Adams, who received no ashes after the death of her four-year-old son Harry, said the group members are thankful for the public backing their campaign has received.

She said: "It has been brilliant to know that people want to support us.

"Now we obviously need our 5,000 signatures to take to Downing Street to make sure we get the law changed so that every parent is entitled to have their baby's ashes back."

Mrs Adams, and other representatives of Action for Ashes will be gathering signatures in Shrewsbury town centre from 10.30am to 1.30am this coming Saturday.

She explained how she only found out about the doubts over cremations at Emstrey from Action for Ashes' founder, Glen Perkins. She said: "

I was very, very upset to start with, it was like the whole grieving process starting again.

I was just absolutely disgusted."

An independent report into infant cremations at Emstrey Crematorium is also set to be published next week. The inquiry was commissioned by Shropshire Council last year at the request of bereaved families, and has been led by chairman David Jenkins.

The UK Government has also confirmed it will review the findings. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "We will carefully consider the inquiry's findings when we receive them."

People can sign the petition at change.org/p/baby-ashes-scandal-england