AS a Member of Parliament, you are sometimes contacted by people with appalling stories, people who feel that they have reached the end of the line and have no one else left to turn to.

This was the case in March, 2017, when Janine Aldridge, from Atherton, got in touch with me to tell me her story and to ask for help.

Ms Aldridge’s daughter, Leah, was five weeks old when she was killed by her father in 2002.

When she was buried three months later, she was assured by Greater Manchester Police that all her organs had been returned following the post-mortem.

Fifteen years later, in January, 2017, Ms Aldridge was told by the police that her daughter’s liver had been found following an audit of human tissue held by police that took place in 2010.

Another funeral was again held for baby Leah. It was after this when Ms Aldridge asked for my help.

Over the last 18 months, I have been backwards and forwards with Greater Manchester Police and the Greater Manchester Mayor’s office, who passed me on to a deputy, trying to seek answers for Ms Aldridge and her family.

Finally, this summer, following my enquiries we were told that more of Leah’s organs had been retained. Unthinkably, Leah’s family had to hold a third funeral for her.

To lose a baby would be traumatic for any parent, but to then have to hold three funerals for your child over the course of 15 years is unimaginable.

All the family want to do is to finally put Leah to rest – but they don’t have the confidence in Greater Manchester Police or the Police and Crime Commissioner, who is also the Mayor of Greater Manchester, that they have been able to do this.

That’s why I stood up in Parliament last week and called on the Prime Minister to hold a public inquiry into what has happened.

I’ve been told that there could be 180 families affected and I have already been contacted by other local people who have also been told by Greater Manchester Police that they have found organs and tissue of loved ones they had long since thought they had laid to rest.

This is an appalling and traumatic story, and something no family should have to go through.

The failures of Greater Manchester authorities into the handling of Leah’s – and other’s – cases must be investigated and changes must be made so this never happens again.

The responses I have had so far from Greater Manchester Police and the Mayor’s office have not given Janine Aldridge any confidence that they are handling it in the right way which is why I am pleased that the Prime Minister has personally intervened.

What Janine and the other families have gone through is unimaginable. We must get answers so they can finally know they have put their loved ones to rest.