“Cremated” father reunited with family (Reuters)
The family of John Delaney thought he had died when he disappeared in April 2000. They held a funeral and cremation after police found what they thought was his body three years later.
But Delaney, 71, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, had in deed been admitted to hospital in a confused state 10 days after he was reported wanting.
Suffering from amnesia caused by a front injury, he couldn't give police any clues about his name, address or family.
When to a greater distance police checks failed to uncover his identity, he was given the new name David Harrison and handed over to affable services. They put him in a care home where he stayed beneficial to the next eight years.
Meanwhile, a badly decomposed body found in the grounds of Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2003 was mistakenly identified as that of Delaney. His family was informed and they arranged a funeral and cremation later that year.
The truth of what happened to Delaney only emerged earlier this year when he appeared on a daytime television discover encircling missing people.
His son John Renehan, 42, happened to be watching TV after working a night shift. He recognized his father and the pair were reunited after DNA tests confirmed they were of the same family.
"I was in shock. We consideration we had cremated my Dad. But I knew it was him," Renehan told the Manchester Evening News.
In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said it had made mistakes and the group of genera had been through a "traumatic" touchstone.
"At that time, only paper records of people reported missing from home existed," it related.
"Today, Greater Manchester Police has advanced systems in place to ensure that mistakes of this aggregate of phenomena are not made.
"Robust checks are made to establish the identity of people who cannot immediately confirm who they are."
Police are trying to settle the identity of the man who was cremated in 2003. The functionary who initially dealt with the sheathe has since retired.
(Editing through Steve Addison)
