Government apologises over mass graves for stillborn babies

The government has issued a “profound apology” to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves without their knowledge.

More than 1,000 babies were buried in unmarked graves across Wirral in Merseyside and a mass burial ground in Oldham also contained more than 270 babies.

Gina Jacobs, from Wirral, did not learn where her son Robert had been buried until 53 years after his stillbirth in 1969.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday evening, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised for the “unthinkable pain” caused by the historic practice.

Before the 1980s, it was common practice for stillborn babies to be taken away from mothers by hospital staff and buried in communal graves.

Jacobs said she was not allowed to see or hold Robert after his stillbirth in 1969 and believed he had been buried with an adult whose funeral took place at about the same time.

After seeing a BBC report about another bereaved mother, she began searching and later discovered Robert had been buried in a shared grave with more than 60 other babies. She described what happened as “inhumane”.

Jacobs, who said hearing the government’s apology was “amazing”, now wants to meet the health secretary to seek answers on behalf of parents still searching for their babies.