Mum who 'begged' for days to see her son's body steps up campaign for law change after 'frustrating' meeting with trust

But, despite appeals from the family and their two liaison officers, Mrs Baker said they were refused access to Musgrove Mortuary in Somerset based on "protocol".

Joe's parents have ramped up campaigning efforts after they recently attended a meeting with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust - where they said there was no representation from the coroners office. And Rachel said she was told by the trust that its policy is only to give next of kin access "under exceptional circumstances". 

Rachel said she asked to be told what these 'exceptional circumstances' were, but that the trust could not say.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it was grateful for the meeting and that it could not allow access for Joe's parents until directed by the coroner. But it has apologised and said communication was not clear.

Meanwhile, the coroners service said it is "confident" that there were no delays in the post-mortem exam, opening of the inquest or the release of the body.

Mrs Baker, who is from Hoptonheath on the south Shropshire/Herefordshire border, is campaigning to have the rules changed around mortuaries and has set up a petition aiming to bring about a law so families can have immediate access to the deceased if they wish. 

Rachel and Adam are now also working closely with South Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson who they said has provided "amazing" support and are hoping to present their campaign and experience in Parliament in the near future.

The petition has reached more than 2,000 signatures so far, and Joe's parents are hoping for the word to spread so they can reach their target. 

Mrs Baker said: "The whole time you are fighting to see a child that you brought into the world. I spent 27 hours in labour birthing him, raised him for 20 years, then I have a body of people telling me that I can’t see my own child. It was like Joe never belonged to us and that we had no right over Joe whatsoever.

"Every time we rang all we were told was that it was protocol. I have asked for that protocol but it doesn’t exist.

"I wanted to know how bad he was hurt, if his face was okay. I don’t know why, but at that time it was huge for me to know. But the response was that they couldn’t help me.

"Then I asked if I could see my boy to which I was told that Joe was in a queue and I would have to wait."

Mrs Baker said that Joe's post-mortem was carried out on November 29 by 9am - two days after her son's death.

She continued: "What happened to the other eight days, what was going on then?

"At the meeting with the trust we were told that under exceptional circumstances that they allow the next of kin to see loved ones, but I then asked what they define as exceptional circumstances because for me, my son left for work and never came home. How much more exceptional do you need to get?"

Proud parents Rachel and Adam said their son loved sports from an early age, playing football and rugby as a youngster.

In 2020, aged 17, Joe left home for the Royal Navy, pursuing a dream of becoming an aircraft engineer, and Rachel and Adam described watching his passing-out parade as the "proudest moment" of their lives.

Rachel said she was told by the trust that she could have researched their contact details, and then she might have been able to see her son.

"To be told that if we had researched them and got hold of them then maybe we would have been able to see our son, 14 months late, is quite frankly salt into the wound," she added.

In the family’s quest to have a change in the rules, under what would be called 'Joe’s Law’, no family members would ever be told no to seeing the body of a deceased loved one. The petition set up by the family has a goal of 10,000 signatures.

Rachel is continuing to hand out flyers across the region in her bid to drum up support for the campaign.

Adam Baker said: "The whole meeting was the trust frustrating because it was going around in circles.

"There was no responsibility. They were bouncing it around and it was a waste of our eight hours' travelling time.

"We were looking for common decency. We weren't looking for a nice space, an extension to the mortuary. They could put a screen around, that is enough, just someone to take us there.

"We are looking for a law that says nobody can keep anyone away. There are some people out there who might not want to see their loved ones but some do. All you need explaining is the situation and then it is your choice."

A spokesperson for the Somerset Council’s Coroners Service said: "We offer our sincere condolences to the family at this very difficult time. We are confident that there were no delays to either the post-mortem, the opening of the inquest or the release of the body to the family’s funeral director. Access arrangements for mortuaries fall outside of the responsibility of the coroners service."

A spokesperson for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust added: "We are very grateful to Joe Baker’s family for meeting us and describing their very painful experience of not being able to see his body for ten days after his death.

"It gave us the opportunity to describe the legal frameworks that we work within and to understand how we can work better with the coroner to speed up these processes and jointly improve our communication with families.

"We could not enable access to Joe’s body until directed by the coroner after the post-mortem had taken place and the inquest opened. Communication with Joe’s family between our trust and the coroner’s office was not clear enough and we are very sorry for this, and the distress it caused his family."

The petition can be viewed and signed here.