An Oxford doctor is heading the probe into the baby organs scandal at Alder Hey Hospital.

Dr Steve Gould is leading the internal inquiry at the Liverpool- based centre, where it has been revealed that organs from 850 babies were removed without parental consent. The revelation has caused uproar among grieving families.

Dr Gould has worked as a consultant paediatric pathologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital at Headington for a decade.

Colleagues believe he was chosen because of his huge experience in child pathology.

The Alder Hey scandal was brought to light after a public inquiry into the deaths of babies in heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

There it emerged that a number of hospitals routinely kept hearts and other organs for research. The Liverpool hospital had already admitted collecting the hearts from 2,087 children before it disclosed that it had discovered 850 organs in a laboratory.

Solicitor Ian Cohen, who represents about 70 of the families involved, said: "The parents insist that a public inquiry is needed to get to the facts, and that is what we want."

Prof Dick van Velzen, the Dutch cot-death expert who removed the organs during post-mortem examinations between 1988 and 1995, now works abroad and is not expected to take part in the inquiry.

But Mr Cohen said he had offered to meet families affected by the scandal.

Story date: Saturday 04 December

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