HEALTH bosses have launched an investigation into conditions at Burnley mortuary after the family of a dead man complained he was kept under a dirty blanket on a rusty trolley.

Mum and daughter Christine and Helen Brear spoke out following the inquest into the death of John Paul Brear at Rawtenstall Town Hall.

Helen, 28, said her father, a 56-year-old Accrington businessman, was in the morgue at Burnley General Hospital in October after he suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his car, which then crashed in Keighley Road, Laneshawbridge.

Mr Brear was a director of Olympic Fixing Products Ltd, Metcalf Drive, Accrington.

Miss Brear said she and her mother went to identify the body and were shown into a very small room she described as "like a shoe box" where the "stench was absolutely appalling."

Helen said: "My father was on a rusty trolley and he had a dirty blanket thrown over him. That memory will stay with us for the rest of our lives."

Now staff at Burnley General are to launch an investigation into the morgue facilities.

Geoff Summers, facilities director for Burnley Health Care NHS Trust, said: "The Trust is very concerned at the comments made about the mortuary and will put in place an immediate investigation to determine the focus of the comments and to take appropriate steps to remedy any shortcomings in our service to the relatives of deceased patients."

Mr Brear's body was not released for six or seven days after the accident, during which time his family went to the hospital every day from their home in Leeds.

His daughter added: "We wouldn't like other families to go through that experience."

Mrs Brear, 52, said: "It will live with me for the rest of my life, it was absolutely appalling. The conditions were horrendous. It should not have been like that. There were no flowers and the blanket they covered him in was just like a sheet.

"I couldn't get a drink of water, the toilet was awful and the stench was terrible. It was like being shoved in a backyard. What would it cost for a lick of paint, some artificial flowers and some air fresheners?"

The inquest heard Mr Brear, of Quarry Bank Court, Leeds, hit the kerb and then a lamp post after suffering the fatal heart attack on October 26. No other vehicle was involved in the smash.

Consultant pathologist Dr Abdul Al -Dawoud, who performed the post mortem examination, told an inquest Mr Brear complained of feeling unwell and had suffered sickness and diarrhoea days before he died. He had visited his doctor who had diagnosed a virus. Mr Brear had previously had surgery for a hernia.

The court heard that on the morning of the accident Mrs Brear saw her husband about 7am and he seemed fine. He died about four hours later.

The doctor said he could find no evidence of trauma on Mr Brear, except small abrasions on his forehead. Neither could he find any evidence that the collision had caused any damage to his body.

Dr Al-Dawoud said there was no alcohol in Mr Brear's system. The heart attack could not be foreseen but he could have had an hereditary condition.

Acting East Lancs Coroner Richard Taylor recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.