Dad's missing ashes found during major probe into funeral director

Derek Stevenson was cremated at Cardross Crematorium on January 28, 2021, after passing away suddenly, aged 58.

But until yesterday, daughter Annie had no word of the whereabouts of his ashes – that had been in possession of the now-closed A Milne Funeral Directors for more than three years. 

Detectives recently closed a probe into the company, which had branches in Dumbarton and Glasgow's Balornock, amid allegations of ashes going missing, families being given the wrong remains, and financial misconduct.

READ MORE: Probe launched into funeral directors amid 'missing ashes' claims

Annie, 39, said: “I contacted A Milne after my dad passed away. I had never dealt with them before and put all my trust in them.

“The DWP made a payment to them, and I was to pay up the rest.

“I started paying it up, but I wasn’t receiving receipts from them so, I messaged them and told them I wasn’t paying any more money until I received a receipt and an invoice of what the total cost was. I didn’t know what was what.”

Derek (Image: Supplied)Annie claims she received correspondence saying debt collectors would be sent to her Alexandria home.

She added: “They said they sent out my invoices by recorded delivery, but they got sent back saying no one lives at my address which is absolute rubbish.

“Then they said they had sent them out by a courier company. Again, that's absolutely rubbish.

“They told me they weren’t going to release the ashes until I paid the balance in full.”

Annie, who was her dad’s full-time carer for more than 14 years, believed she had paid the total bill and contacted A Milne to inform them.

She said: “They told me under no circumstances the ashes would be released until payments were made in full. Then they closed down and I never got my dad’s ashes.

“My daughter passed the shop in Dumbarton last year and she noticed it had changed names. I had resented myself to the fact that I wouldn’t get them back.

“Before they closed down, I thought ‘something's not right here’. You just get an incline sometimes.”

At first, Annie was not too concerned about not having her dad’s ashes as she was still grieving and processing his death.

“To be quite honest, I wasn’t ready to have my dad at home,” she said.

“I had never dealt with something like this, so I just didn’t feel ready for having the ashes so I can’t say it bothered me that much at the time. They had told me they would keep them for as long as I needed.

“But it did bother me when I saw they had closed down with no notification, no nothing. I thought ‘My dad’s not coming home’. It was upsetting. It was heartbreaking.”

The mum sent emails and phoned the company but got no answer.

“I started panicking at that point because I thought ‘What’s happened to my dad, where’s my dad gone’.

"It was hard to think he would never be home for us to be able to scatter him.

Annie contacted the police earlier this month when she realised from news reports that she wasn’t the only person impacted.

She added: "I thought ‘Maybe something could come of this’.

"They deserve to be punished for what they’ve done.”

READ MORE: Grieving daughter welcomes police investigation into funeral directors

On Thursday, Annie received a letter from Argyll and Bute Council which revealed that a container of ashes was discovered at the premises of A Milne in Balornock - and it was her dad's.

It went on to read: “The container has been taken back into our care at Cardross Crematorium, on the instruction of the senior inspector of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors. It will remain in our safe-keeping until it can be returned to the applicant for cremation.”

Annie revealed she was “over the moon” and added: “I hope everyone else gets their loved ones ashes back.”

Meanwhile, Jackie Barnes, from Dumbarton, told the BBC that she received a letter confirming the ashes of her late mother Margaret Rennie were found - but she had scattered what she thought were her mother's remains back in January.

Jackie told the BBC: "I got the letter and I kept reading it because I couldn’t believe it.

"I thought 'That can’t be my mum, I’ve scattered my mum’s ashes with my dad'. That was my dad’s wish. He said 'I want me and your mum scattered together'.

"It’s like grieving my mum all over again, it is as if I’ve just lost her again," she continued.

"People are never going to get their mums, their dads, their children back.

"I’m lucky I’m going to get my mum back but the person I've scattered, nobody will know who that is and we’ll never find out."

Last week, we reported that cops finished a search of the funeral parlour’s Glasgow premises. However, the investigation is still ongoing.

Detective Inspector Gerry Shovlin, Clydebank CID, said: “This is a very sensitive and emotive case and we recognise the upset and distress that families have experienced.

“Our investigation has been going on for several weeks now and will continue for some time, due to the level of inquiry that will need to be followed up.

“It is a complex inquiry that involves a number of agencies, but families can be reassured that the ashes of their loved ones are a priority and will be treated with the utmost respect.”