MoD admits body parts mix-up

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The Ministry of Defence confirmed that there had been a "regrettable incident" but insisted it had been sorted out before the troops' funerals.

One of the victims' mothers told The Observer she had considered cancelling her son's funeral and raised concerns of a wider problem.

The error occurred after a Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft crashed near Kandahar in September last year, killing 14 airmen, a soldier and a Marine.

It is thought to have been caused by a technical fault.

The men's bodies were returned home in a moving repatriation ceremony at RAF Kinloss in Scotland.

But the Observer revealed that at least one victim's body parts had ended up in the coffin of another.

Trish Knight, whose son Ben, 25, was among those killed, told the paper: "We don't know how many mistakes were made over this but body parts were found in a wrong coffin and there may well have been more parts mixed up.

"We just thought 'how can we go ahead if we are not sure if it's Ben's body in there or maybe somebody else's?'" she added.

An MoD spokesman said the families concerned had been made aware of the mix-up, which had been sorted out in time for the funerals.