Sister raises race issue over body swap case

The body of Christopher Alder, 37, who died in police custody in 1998, was discovered in a mortuary at Hull Royal Infirmary in November 2011 when the family of a Nigerian woman, Grace Kamara, 77, arrived to prepare her body for burial and were told it could not be found.

It is thought Mr Alder’s corpse was found in a body bag bearing Mrs Kamara’s name. His grave was subsequently exhumed and tests confirmed Mrs Kamara had been buried in his place.

South Yorkshire Police has now completed a 15-month criminal investigation into the scandal and yesterday presented its findings to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Alder’s sister Janet, 51, said: “It will be interesting to know whether they looked at the issue of race. There are not that many black people in Hull and for that ratio it would be interesting to know how they mistook two black bodies rather than a black one and a white one. Did somebody just look at two black faces and say ‘That’s it’?

“And if they didn’t open the body bag how would they know it was the right person to bury? If that’s the case, how many more bodies have been mistaken for others?”

She added: “I’d also like to know why the funeral directors ordered a 6ft 2ins coffin for a man who was 5ft 8ins, and how they can mistake a man for a woman.”

Det Supt Richard Fewkes, said in a statement: “The investigation has been extensive and every reasonable line of enquiry has been pursued.”

He said it was now up to Crown Prosecutors to determine whether crimes had been committed.