A Mother who discovered her dead baby's heart and lungs were removed and thrown away by Oxford doctors is fighting for compensation 32 years after his death.

Charlotte Everett, of Garsington, whose child's organs were retained, is seeking compensation

Charlotte Everett, 63, of Southend, Garsington, lost her son David after he was born seven weeks early at the Radcliffe Infirmary.

Although she agreed to a post mortem on his 4lb 12oz body, she was unaware that some of his organs had been retained by pathologists.

Thirty years later, she discovered the truth.

She is now part of the 2,150-strong Nationwide Organ Retention Group, which is due to take its case to the High Court on January 26.

Mrs Everett said: "I still have no idea why David died.

"When I asked what happened to his organs they said they macerated them, which means they chop them up and flush them away.

"I know nothing at all. They just took him away and that was that. It all seems to be a bit of a shambles.

"The money really isn't the most important thing. These people need to be stopped from ever doing this again, and the way to make sure of that is to hit them in the pocket."

David died one-and-a-half hours after he was born prematurely at 33 weeks.

Although Mrs Everett and her former husband Anthony agreed to a post mortem, they did not sign a consent form and were not asked if any of their son's organs could be kept for research or teaching purposes.

Mrs Everett said: "When I got the envelope through the post confirming what had happened I thought I could handle it, but I really couldn't. It was a couple of days before I could function properly.

"I really hadn't expected to be upset."

Her experience is similar to about 1,800 others who discovered their loved-ones' organs were retained by pathologists in Oxford, after managers at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust revealed 4,400 body parts had been retained since 1970.

The collection, from the RI and the John Radcliffe Hospital, was the second largest in the country.

But while families affected by similar ordeals at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool were given an average £5,000 compensation each, the NHS Litigation Authority has not offered similar payment to bereaved relatives elsewhere in the UK.

Talking about why families wanted to go to court, lead solicitor Mervyn Fudge said: "I think the main thing is the shock and horror of finding this has happened and the indignation that the NHS Litigation Authority will settle with one part of the country, but say the nationwide group can simply go away. They are just genuinely hurt that their deceased loved-ones, who were treated in the same way, just don't seem to count, and now there's anger."

An ORH spokesman said the trust could not comment because the court case was being overseen by the NHS Litigation Authority.