Fiona wants Scarlett's organs returned

PANAJI: British mother Fiona Mackeown, facing charges of neglect against her dead teenaged daughter Scarlett Keeling in a Goa court, has renewed her efforts to claim her daughter's organs in order to give her a decent burial.

Earlier attempts by Mackeown to reclaim her daughter's organs had triggered a controversy. Scarlett was found dead in controversial circumstances on a Goa beach in February this year.

Scarlett's organs had been removed by forensic experts in Goa in order to conduct autopsies. Two autopsies were ordered on Scarlett's remains in Goa. The second one was ordered after the first autopsy was riddled with inconsistencies.

Speaking to the media, Mackeown's lawyer Vikram Verma hoped that since the case had been transferred to a federal investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the organs would be handed over to the mother. "Let's hope Fiona can give her daughter a decent burial now," Verma said.

Mackeown had earlier refused to bury Scarlett's remains without the vital body organs. "The body of the deceased has not been cremated as yet, because of these organs missing from her body," Verma said.

Mackeown has been accused of neglecting her daughter. She is facing charges in a Goan court under the Goa Children's Act 2003. Reports of missing organs which surfaced during a third autopsy in Britain had caused a furore in the media, after the coroner noted that Scarlett's kidneys, uterus and stomach contents were reported to be 'missing'.