A father who scrambled to raise nearly £7,000 to get his son’s body returned to the UK after he died in Cambodia has described the shock at finding he and his family had mistakenly been sent the body of a 77-year-old man.
Stephen Nightingale, from Nottingham, said his son Kevin, died of a heart attack on 1 May. But it wasn’t until days later that the 39-year-old was found in his flat by a colleague.
On 9 May, two UK police officers showed up at Mr Nightingale’s doorstep to tell him his son had passed.
The 63-year-old immediately called Kevin’s mother, Maureen Thompson, before launching efforts to get their son back through Cambodian firm Evergreen Funeral Services.
A body initially believed to be that of Kevin’s arrived in the UK around 10 June, and Ms Thompson went to identify him with Kevin’s brother, Sean.
“I got a phone call while they were there and I knew something was wrong. It wasn’t Kevin,” Mr Nightingale, who borrowed most of the money to repatriate his son’s body as a GoFundMe campaign hadn’t raised enough in time, said.
“If Maureen hadn’t viewed him, we would’ve buried this guy who no one knew with Kevin’s grandma.”
‘We know our own son’
He called the Cambodian firm and told them: “This has gone wrong, this is terrible”.
But the firm was “just demanding photos” of the body despite Mr Nightingale repeating: “We are telling you, it’s not our Kevin. It’s a 77-year-old bloke, it’s not our Kevin.”
He added: “We know our own son.”
The body of the 77-year-old man was cremated in the UK and had his ashes sent back to Cambodia.
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Kevin’s body was returned a week after the mistake was reported, Mr Nightingale said. But he then got another “distressing call” by Ms Thompson as she sought to identify her son for the second time.
“It is Kevin, but he is in such a state,” she cried. Kevin’s parents claim he had gone so long without being embalmed that his body had badly decomposed.
“Sean just collapsed on the floor. Maureen was hysterical, I could hear her crying in the background,” Mr Nightingale said.
He believes Evergreen Funeral Services embalmed the 77-year-old thinking it was Kevin. As a result, he believes his son wasn’t embalmed until the blunder was reported.
He believes Kevin “had been left around” to a point where he became “just about recognisable”.
Ms Thompson wanted to put a suit on him for the burial, but the undertaker said he was “undressable… he’s that badly far gone now, there’s nothing we can do”.
The family would have also wanted to at least put some memorable pictures in his casket the day before the funeral.
But even that had to be scrapped because of Kevin’s state. “I can’t open the coffin, it’s going to be too much for you,” the undertaker told them.
Mr Nightingale said he was heartbroken at not being able to see his son for a last farewell.
“I so much wanted to look at him and say bye son, sorry for everything, and I never got that chance.”
While Evergreen Funeral Services has refunded the repatriation costs to Kevin’s family, Mr Nightingale said they are yet to issue an apology or an explanation as to how the misidentification may have happened.
Sky News has contacted Evergreen Funeral Services for comment.
