A distressed daughter has described the horror of being shown a stranger's body when she went to visit her late mother at a funeral home. A mix-up meant Michelle Maher and her family were presented with the wrong woman at Arthur Gresty funeral directors in West Timperley, Trafford, on Friday afternoon. Instead of their 65-year-old mother Rita, they were shown another woman of similar age but different height and hair colour.
Shock and disbelief
Ms Maher, 42, from Wythenshawe, said at first she did not realise the mistake and stroked the woman's leg. She said: "My head was gone. I think that's why I didn't realise at first. I stroked her leg and said 'I'm here mum' but it wasn't my mum. I started crying and shouting 'Why does my mum look like this?' I was in shock. My sister went in the room and started screaming 'That's not my mother'. I felt sick. I couldn't get my breath."
Phil Duggan, Rita's husband of 26 years, said he bent down to kiss the woman when he realised she was not his wife. The 74-year-old added: "I thought 'Hang on a minute, this isn't Rita'. Rita's hair was blonde, going white. Her hair was black. I was devastated. I almost kissed this poor woman. I couldn't believe it. How the hell did they make a mistake like this?"
Apology and investigation
Once the funeral home realised their error, a manager came and apologised to the family. After about 10 minutes they were allowed to see their mother. A spokesperson for Arthur Gresty Funeral Homes in Altrincham said: "We are deeply sorry that this distressing incident has occurred and have offered our sincere apologies to the family affected. We have established procedures in place to ensure the correct identification of those in our care, and we are conducting a thorough investigation to understand how this happened. At this stage, our initial findings suggest that the incident resulted from human error. We have also contacted the family of the deceased person who was shown in error to inform them of what occurred and to offer our apologies. We recognise the trust families place in us at an extremely difficult time and are committed to understanding what went wrong and taking any necessary steps to prevent a recurrence."
Recent tragedy for the family
This comes weeks after the person responsible for the death of Ms Maher's son, Kyle, was imprisoned. Finley Hayes was jailed for 10 years last month, having been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving following a horror crash that claimed Kyle's life in Wythenshawe. Hayes, riding a stolen Honda 600cc motorcycle with Kyle as his pillion passenger, ran a red light before smashing into a Ford Focus. Kyle later died of his injuries. Rita, a mother of six and grandmother of 27, died on June 1 at Moya Cole Hospice in Heald Green. Ms Maher added: "She was the light of our lives. She was like a mother to all her grandchildren. If anybody needed anything, no matter what Rita was going through, she was there for you. It's a massive loss. We have finally got justice for Kyle then this happened. It's made it all 10 times worse. Now all I can see is this little lady's face. I can't get it out of my head."
