Screaming mum finds funeral director 'watching cartoons' with two dead babies

A funeral director has been accused of leaving a dead child in a baby bouncer ‘watching cartoons’.

Amie Upton, 38, has been accused of placing a dead child in a baby bouncer ‘watching cartoons’ after a BBC investigation. It then emerged she has been banned from NHS maternity wards and mortuaries in Leeds.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust confirmed it had barred 38-year-old Ms Upton, who runs Florrie’s Army, from its mortuaries and maternity wards in spring this year. The BBC investigation found one mum was left "screaming" after discovering her dead son had been put in a baby bouncer "watching cartoons" in Ms Upton's living room.

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While another mum, whose stillborn child, was in Ms Upton’s care at one stage, told them: "It was just crazy. If I told somebody of this story... they'd think it was a horror film." But talking to The Mirror, Ms Upton, 38, from Leeds, dismissed claims against her as “ridiculous”.

The BBC told how Zoe Ward's baby, Bleu, was three weeks old when he died of brain damage at Leeds General Infirmary in 2021.

Ms Ward, 32, said she'd asked Florrie's Army to arrange his funeral, after a recommendation from a family friend and Bleu's body was picked up from the hospital. She said she had thought he would be taken to a "professional setting".

But when she went round to visit the next day, Ms Ward was "terrified" to see Ms Upton "watching" cartoons with her son's body next to her in a baby bouncer in the living room.

"I realised it were Bleu and she (Ms Upton) says: 'Come in, we're watching PJ Masks’.” The cartoon is based on masked superheroes. The mum continued: "There's a cat scratcher in the corner and I can hear a dog barking and there was another (dead) baby on the sofa. It wasn't a nice sight.

"I rang my mum and I'm saying, 'This ain't right'… I was screaming down the phone (saying): 'It's mucky, it's dirty, he can't stay here.'"

Ms Ward's mother then arranged for another funeral director to collect Bleu's body and he was removed from Ms Upton's care. "I didn't want him in that house," Ms Ward said, adding the "weird" experience had left her "upset and angry".

Another couple told the BBC they were introduced to Ms Upton through a family friend after their daughter was stillborn at another Leeds hospital, St James', earlier this year.

They said they had agreed to their daughter being taken by Florrie's Army, as Ms Upton had led them to believe the body was being kept at a funeral parlour in Headingley until the burial.

But they said more than a week later, Ms Upton had told them their daughter was at her house - five miles away from where they had expected her to be. They said they had not given their consent for her to be taken there.

"I just didn't know why she was there," said the mum, who described it has being like a ‘horror film’.

The couple do not know how long their daughter's body had been at Ms Upton's, but the mum believes it had not been kept at the correct temperature, saying it was "really smelly, like she'd been in there and not kept cool.”

The BBC asked Ms Upton to respond to claims her home was an unsuitable place to keep babies' bodies. The Mirror has also asked for a response.

Ms Upton did not respond to all the BBC claims but they said she had only had two complaints in the eight years since she set up Florrie's Army. Many reviews of her services on Facebook are positive, with some families describing the service as "beautiful…amazing…and inspirational".

Ms Upton told The Mirror she had not had children at her home for four years. And she told how she only started working with grieving families after she lost an unborn baby herself in 2017.

Her child died and Ms Upton says she was left in a coma after her abusive ex-partner repeatedly rammed a child’s buggy into her causing her tummy to crash against an open freezer door. The baby's father Shaun Birchall, 28, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH).

Reacting to claims against her, Ms Upton told The Mirror babies used to be kept at her home four years ago as many families cannot bear to think of their child left alone in a mortuary or funeral home.

About claims one baby was left in a bouncer, she said: “I had a laid-down chair that I used to transfer them into while I changed the bedding. It wasn't a bouncer.

“So she's making out like I stuck a baby in a bouncer and I'm bouncing away. That's not what we're happening. Her baby was laid in a laid back chair that we had that we used to transfer babies from the beds.”

Florrie's Army said it supports bereaved parents, offering free handprints, photographs, baby clothing and a dedicated funeral service. According to her posts on Facebook, Ms Upton set up the group after her own daughter was stillborn in 2017. But her practices have left some grieving mums horrified.

The funeral industry is unregulated in England and Wales. There are no legal requirements about how and where bodies should be stored, and no qualifications are needed to set up as a funeral director.

The government is yet to respond to a recommendation given by an inquiry in July, which said it should introduce statutory regulations in England.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed it had investigated two reports about Ms Upton's funeral service since 2021, but said after "extensive enquiries... no potential crimes were identified".

“Since 2021, we have received two reports alleging improper care provided by an infant funeral service in Harehills, Leeds,” the force said.

“Detectives made extensive enquiries into both reports, exploring multiple legislative and regulatory avenues, including liaison with partners, to establish whether there were any criminal matters to investigate. No potential crimes were identified.

“We recognise the concerns raised by these two families will have added to the distress they felt during an already incredibly difficult time. Our thoughts remain with them.”

Rabina Tindale, Chief Nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Over the past few years we have received several serious concerns about services provided by Amie Upton.

“Given these concerns, and the fact that some families have believed services are linked to or supported by the Trust, we must be clear that neither Amie Upton or Florrie’s Army is endorsed by, or associated with, Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

“When we first became aware of concerns, we implemented extra steps in our mortuary services on top of our already robust measures.

“Since 2021 we have had specific safeguarding measures in place, including monitoring Amie’s attendance when visiting deceased patients at the mortuary in her funeral service role. Any visitors to the mortuary are always accompanied by mortuary staff.

“Any handover of a body is undertaken in line with Trust policies and procedures and takes place to an authorised funeral director.

“Actions were further strengthened this year, including Amie no longer being allowed to be present in our Maternity services unless as a patient herself.

“Over the past few years, our concerns have been raised with the police, external safeguarding services and relevant regulators.

“We support bereaved families during their most difficult times through tailored, compassionate and regulated services. We have dedicated staff, including bereavement midwives and nurses, who provide personalised support for bereaved mothers and their families. They always respect each family’s individual needs and wishes.”

In a JustGiving page with Ms Upton named as the organiser, they talk about raising £3500 to set up a Florrie's Army Day Centre “to enable us to carry on our daily activities on a much larger scale.” They claim to help more than a hundred families a week providing supplies and help.