A GRIEVING daughter has accused the Essex coroner’s office of treating her mother’s body like a blip on a screen.

Jane O’Connell, 46, of High Cliff Drive, Leigh, was outraged at the way she was treated when she tried to get information from staff.

Mrs O’Connell claims a backlog of cases meant the body of her mother, Janet Williams, was not released for a funeral until a week after her death.

She said: “It was absolutely disgusting. They treat you like filth. I kept ringing and ringing to try to find out what was happening, but nobody was picking up.

“When they finally did, they were so discourteous. The woman said: ‘She’s not been picked up by the coroner’s office yet’. When I asked what she meant, she just repeated the same thing.

“Then she said: ‘Oh, wait a minute, she’s been picked up now.’ I thought ‘this is my mother we’re talking about, not just a mark on a screen’.”

Coroners are required to step in when a death cannot be easily explained.

Mrs Williams suffered from several conditions, including coronary heart disease, but lived alone. Her body was found by Mrs O’Connell.

She said: “Because she was found on her own, we didn’t know whether she would have to have a post mortem.

“The circumstances made it even worse for us. It was a sudden death and we were very close.”

Mrs O’Connell, a mother of three, eventually received a call six days after her mother had died, to tell her the body would be released without a post mortem.

She said: “Only then we were able to register the death and get the funeral sorted.

“They told us then there was a huge backlog of cases and they were snowed under.

“It’s not good enough. They must know there will be more deaths during winter, so they should staff the office appropriately.”

The coroner’s office did not respond to requests for a comment.