It’s been 42 years since the funeral of Gary Paton. His mother, Lydia Reid, is still trying to find out what happened to his body.
Last month, the grieving mother watched as her baby son’s grave in Edinburgh was exhumed. When the coffin was opened, it was revealed to be empty. Reid had suspected as much, ever since the day of the funeral in 1975, when she felt the coffin was too light to have a baby inside.
Reid is now demanding that DNA testing be done on tissue samples taken from Gary’s body after his death, to prove that the samples really came from him. Now she’s wondering if her baby perhaps didn’t die, all those years ago.
“Is my son alive?” Reid said to The Washington Post. “I have to look at all possibilities.”
The mystery of baby Gary is tied in with a decades-long body parts scandal that has rocked the UK and even Australia. Thousands of parents who lost a baby or a child, anywhere from the 1950s to the 1990s, later discovered that their organs had been stolen by hospital staff before their burial.
But Gary’s story is more complicated than most.
Top Comments
God, this is just horrendous. I can't imagine what these families have been through, I hope Lydia and her family get some answers.