A SPELLING mistake was among a "catalogue of errors" that led to the wrong body being cremated at the funeral of a Worcestershire MEP, it has emerged.

A report into the death of Philip Bradbourn, who died in December last year aged 63, blamed human error for the catastrophic mix-up.

Mr Bradbourn's funeral took place in January but the man who was cremated was Philip Bradburn, who had died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on Christmas Eve.

An NHS inquiry has found that workers at a mortuary in Sutton Coldfield repeatedly failed to carry out accurate identity checks on the two bodies.

Written records were either not completed, incomplete or inaccurately doctored, leading to confusion over two similar sounding surnames, it added.

Bosses at Heart of England NHS Trust have apologised for the error, which they have attributed to a "complex" set of circumstances.

The report also revealed a series of failings on the part of two funeral directors and Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

As the mortuary was nearing capacity staff requested that four bodies, including Mr Bradbourn's, to be moved to Lichfield.

The names of those to be moved were given over the phone but not followed up with an email listing personal details including names and addresses, the report said.

The funeral home collected Mr Bradbourn's body but sent it back to Good Hope four days later after his family requested to change his burial to a cremation.

On the same day Mr Bradburn's body - which had been wrongly identified as Mr Bradbourn's - was sent back to the hospital over concerns it had been at the funeral directors for too long.

When it got to Good Hope from the funeral directors, the name 'Bradbourn' had been scrawled onto the accompanying paperwork, over-writing Mr Bradburn's name.

Dr Andrew Catto, from the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are very sorry that this incredibly distressing situation has happened."

A spokesman for Central England Co-operative said: "Our priority has been to work closely with all concerned so that we can learn from this unfortunate incident and build further appropriate safeguards for the future."

A second funeral for Mr Bradbourn took place in Wolverhampton back in February.

The veteran Conservative was battling with cancer in the months running up to his death.

He was a well-known figure in political circles around Worcestershire, with county politicians uniting to pay tribute to his life.

Councillor Adrian Hardman, the county council's leader, described him as a "good friend to us all" at County Hall, where he regularly took up issues in the European Parliament.

Mr Bradbourn was awarded the OBE for public and political service in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1994, and first became an MEP in 1999.