Police investigate funeral home over 'missing' ashes

•  Families ‘are still waiting for remains YEARS after funerals’

A funeral director is being investigated by police amid claims of missing ashes and financial misconduct.

Forensics officers were seen entering A Milne Funeral Directors in Springburn, Glasgow, as families complained they had not received cremated remains of loved ones.

Some people insisted they have been waiting for years to receive ashes.

Others allege they have been left with funeral bills despite having paid money into plans that should have avoided such expenses.

The firm also operated a branch in Dumbarton, which has since closed.

Premises search: Police at A Milne funeral directors in Glasgow’s Springburn area

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘An investigation is ongoing into the conduct of a former funeral company that had branches in Glasgow and Dumbarton with regard to the storage/return of cremated remains and allegations of financial misconduct.

‘Inquiries are at an early stage.’

It has been reported that Matthew Beck claims he paid around £3,100 to the Dumbarton branch following the death of his father Dennis Smillie in 2021.

Due to personal circumstances, Mr Beck and his partner Samantha Wotherspoon were unable to collect the ashes.

The couple claim the firm offered to drop the remains off but this never happened. The family say they are still waiting three years later.

Ms Wotherspoon told Glasgow Live: ‘A lot was happening in our life at the time so things got away from us.

A few months ago I was walking past the funeral directors in Dumbarton but it wasn’t there anymore.

‘I tried calling A Milne and there was no answer. I sent emails to two addresses and there was no answer.’

Crematorium mix-up: David Breslin

She added: ‘My partner is devastated, he was very close to his dad. To not have that closure and the opportunity to scatter his dad’s ashes in a place that means something to him is hard.’

A post on Facebook announcing the opening of the Springburn branch in 2019 read: ‘At A Milne Funeral Directors, we are committed to providing a dignified service with courtesy and respect to your loved one.’

The firm described itself as ‘an independent, family owned and operated organisation’, and a post described it as a ‘father and daughter business’.

The director, Steve Milne, was born in 1967 and took up the position in January 2023, the same month that his daughter Ashleigh Milne, born in 1987, ceased to be in the role, according to Companies House.

The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) has been contacted by families.

A spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that the NAFD has received a number of complaints about A Milne, which have been scrutinised by our committee for professional standards.

‘The firm appears to have stopped corresponding with us, however, they have been formally notified that they will be considered by the NAFD disciplinary committee at a meeting in May, where the ultimate sanction we have at our disposal is removal from membership.

‘We do not publicly disclose the details of complaints made.’

In January, Klair Sloss’s uncle David Breslin died aged 76.

She had dealt with A Milne previously and decided to use them again. Mr Breslin’s family requested his body be embalmed. They paid the firm £3,850.

But just five days before his service she was told the crematorium ‘had been double booked’.

Unhappy, the family changed funeral directors. Ms Sloss, 35, said she had to identify the body again and found it had not been embalmed and her uncle was still in his pyjamas.

She said: ‘I had five days to try to reschedule and plan a funeral again, we very, very nearly had no flowers, no funeral pamphlets, no nothing. It was just horrible.

‘On the day of the funeral my stomach was churning, wondering what else could go wrong.’

In March police raided Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, Yorkshire, over concerns at how it was being run. They recovered 35 bodies as well as ashes.

Officers said they were investigating ‘suspected financial and fraudulent activity’ at Legacy.

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