Family told mother’s ashes found during police search

Jackie Barnes, 57 received a letter on Wednesday confirming her mother Margaret Rennie’s ashes were recovered by Police Scotland and returned to Cardross Crematorium, where she was cremated on 3 December 2021.

Ms Barnes told BBC Scotland News: “I got the letter and I kept reading it, because I couldn’t believe it.

“I thought that can’t be my mum, I’ve scattered my mum’s ashes with my dad. That was my dad’s wishes. He said I want me and your mum scattered together.”

Her mother died on 24 November 2021, but it was May 2022 before the undertaker said she could collect the ashes. Her father died in on 24 January this year.

She scattered what she believed to be the remains of both her parents within the garden of remembrance at Cardross Crematorium shortly after.

“It’s like grieving my mum all over again, it is as if I’ve just lost her again,” she continued.

“People are never going to get their mums, their dads, their children back.

“I’m lucky I’m going to get my mum back but the person I’ve scattered, nobody will know who that is and we’ll never find out.”