A FUNERAL director who allegedly put a woman’s dead baby in a bouncer to watch cartoons has claimed she did nothing wrong.
Zoe Ward, 32, was left screaming in horror after finding her dead son and the body of another tragic tot “in front of the TV” in the living room of Amie Upton, 38.
Zoe Ward, 32, was shocked to see her dead son Bleu ‘in a bouncer, watching cartoons’
Ben LackAmie Upton, 38, has hit back, claiming she did nothing wrong, adding that Bleu was not in a ‘bouncer’[/caption]
Zoe’s son had died just three weeks after being born at Leeds General Infirmary in 2021
After Zoe’s son Bleu died from brain damage at just three weeks old, the mum contacted Upton’s organisation Florrie’s Army to arrange for his funeral, following a recommendation from a family friend.
But after claiming Upton had placed Bleu in a bouncer to watch cartoons, the funeral director has hit back, claiming she did nothing wrong.
Speaking to The Mirror, Upton said she understood that while it was “not something you hear ever day”, she wanted to make sure the babies were “never left alone”.
She said: “They were always clean and tidy and were not deteriorating or smelly as claimed on posts I’ve seen today…We had refrigerating units up there and cold cots. The babies here were not put in a fridge when staff go home but I was here all the time.
“Their babies knew nothing but love. You don’t find nurses reading their babies a story. I would. I know I only ever did my best. It is ridiculous.”
Referring to the claims that Bleu had been placed in a bouncer, Upton explained that she had a “laid-down chair” used to transfer babies while she changed their bedding.
Earlier, Zoe had spoken out about her ordeal with using Upton’s services.
She said she had initially believed the service to be “brilliant” after speaking to Upton.
Florrie’s Army said it supported bereaved parents and offered free handprints, photographs as well as baby clothing and a dedicated funeral service.
The organisation was set up by Upton, after her own daughter was stillborn in 2017, according to Florrie’s Army’s Facebook page.
There’s a cat scratcher in the corner and I can hear a dog barking and there was another [dead] baby on the sofa. It wasn’t a nice sight.
Zoe Ward
Bleu’s body was picked up from the hospital by someone on behalf of Florrie’s Army, according to Zoe.
She added she had thought her son would be in a “professional setting” but was “terrified” to see Upton “watching cartoons” with her son’s body next to her.
Zoe told the BBC: “I realised it were Bleu and [Upton] says: ‘Come in, we’re watching PJ Masks.’
“There’s a cat scratcher in the corner and I can hear a dog barking and there was another [dead] baby on the sofa. It wasn’t a nice sight.
“I rang my mum and I’m saying, ‘This ain’t right’… I was screaming down the phone [saying]: ‘It’s mucky, it’s dirty, he can’t stay here’.”
Zoe’s mum then organised for another funeral director to collect Bleu’s body and he was taken out of Upton’s care.
Zoe said: “I didn’t want him in that house,” adding she had been left “upset and angry” following the “weird” experience.
Upton, 38, has now been banned from NHS maternity wards and mortuaries in Leeds.
The funeral director claimed she had only ever had two complaints in her eight years of running Florrie’s Army, her baby loss support and funeral service.
In England and Wales, the funeral industry in unregulated and there are no legal requirements regarding how and where bodies should be stored.
No qualifications are needed to set up as a funeral director.
The two main trade organisations, the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) and the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF), follow a joint code of conduct, which states members must undergo regular inspections of their premises and procedures.
Bodies should be kept in a clean and clinical environment at a temperature between 4-7C, according to best practice.
Membership is voluntary though and Upton is not a member of either organisation.
‘HORROR FILM’
A couple, named only by their aliases of Sharon and Paul, were introduced to Upton by a family friend after their daughter was stillborn at St James’ hospital, also in Leeds, earlier this year.
The pair had agreed to let Florrie’s Army take their daughter as Upton had led them to believe the body was being kept at a funeral parlour in Headingley, until the day of the burial.
After more than a week, though, Upton told them their daughter was at her house, five miles away from where they had expected her to be.
They said they had not given their consent for her to be taken there.
‘Sharon’ said: “I just didn’t know why she was there.”
The couple said they do not know how long their daughter’s body had been kept at Upton’s home, but believe it had not been kept at the correct temperature, saying it was “really smelly, like she’d been in there and not kept cool”.
Upton is thought to have had a cold cot, fitted with electrical cooling pads in order to maintain lower temperatures, which she uses at her home and also lends out to families, according to the BBC.
However, the publication reports that it has seen evidence indicating bodies in the care of Upton have not always been kept in the cold cot.
The couple said that when they realised their baby was in Upton’s house they drove across Leeds to bring her home and take her to another funeral director.
The mum said the situation was “crazy” and added that if she had told someone the story of what happened they would think it was like a “horror film”.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said it only allowed bodies to be signed out from its mortuaries by authorised funeral directors.
Both Zoe’s and Sharon and Paul’s babies were signed out by Philip Gallagher from Gallagher Funeral Services, based in Headingley, one of the funeral directors authorised by the Trust.
He said he had had a “working relationship” with Upton for five years, including “providing funerals for people’s loved ones that have sadly passed away”.
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