Post by Shadow on Dec 23, 2005 14:54:26 GMT -5
The Telegraph
By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 23/12/2005)
Relatives of Alistair Cooke, the late broadcaster, have spoken of their revulsion after it was found that his bones were cut from his body by a criminal gang and sold for transplant tissue.
New York police said his body was one of dozens chopped up for profit by rogue morticians in Brooklyn.
After presenting BBC radio's Letter from America for more than half a century, Cooke died in March last year of lung cancer, aged 95.
The "body-snatchers", as the New York tabloids call them, surgically carved out his bones the day after he died, said the Daily News.
His remains were then returned to the family for cremation.
Unnamed sources said the bones were sold for more than $7,000 to two tissue processing companies for use in transplant operations.
By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 23/12/2005)
Relatives of Alistair Cooke, the late broadcaster, have spoken of their revulsion after it was found that his bones were cut from his body by a criminal gang and sold for transplant tissue.
New York police said his body was one of dozens chopped up for profit by rogue morticians in Brooklyn.
After presenting BBC radio's Letter from America for more than half a century, Cooke died in March last year of lung cancer, aged 95.
The "body-snatchers", as the New York tabloids call them, surgically carved out his bones the day after he died, said the Daily News.
His remains were then returned to the family for cremation.
Unnamed sources said the bones were sold for more than $7,000 to two tissue processing companies for use in transplant operations.