A funeral director has been banned from NHS maternity wards and mortuaries in Leeds after a mother discovered her dead baby propped up 'watching' cartoons in the woman's living room. Amie Upton, 38, who runs the baby loss support and funeral service Florrie's Army, was barred by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust earlier this year following multiple complaints.
Zoe Ward, whose son Bleu died of brain damage at three weeks old in 2021, told the BBC she had expected her baby to be kept in a professional setting with a refrigerated cot. Instead, when she visited Upton's home, she found Bleu's body in a baby bouncer in the living room, with another deceased baby on the sofa. Ward described the scene as 'mucky' and 'dirty', and said she was screaming down the phone to her mother: 'This ain't right.'
Another couple believed their baby was being stored at a funeral home in Headingley, but more than a week later were told the body was at Upton's home five miles away. The grandmother of that baby said the body was 'really smelly, like she'd been in there and not kept cool', and compared the situation to a horror film.
The BBC reported evidence that babies' bodies were not being kept in a refrigerated cot, although Upton did possess one. Upton told the BBC she had only received two complaints while running Florrie's Army, named after her own stillborn baby in 2017. When contacted by the Guardian, she declined to comment.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said it had been notified of 'several serious concerns' over the past few years, which were raised with police, safeguarding services, regulators and the coroner's office. Chief nurse Rabina Tindale stated: 'Some families have believed services are linked to or supported by the trust. We must be clear that neither Amie Upton or Florrie's Army is endorsed by, or associated with, Leeds teaching hospitals.'
In England and Wales, funeral homes are not regulated, and there are no legal requirements for how bodies should be handled or stored. Membership of professional associations, which have codes of conduct and inspection standards, is voluntary.
