FOUR of the 20 body part samples retained by Hampshire police belonged to children.
As previously reported, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), conducted a report to find out how many police forces kept hold of body parts after an investigation or an unexplained death.
The snapshot of the two-year period 2010 to 2012, found 20 cases of Hampshire Constabulary keeping hold of category three parts.
This category covers samples of human tissue that incorporate a significant part of the body, such as organs or limbs.
A freedom of information act request has revealed that four of the 20 in this category belonged to children.
The force said its position remains the same as last year, when the report first came out.
A police spokesman said: ‘In line with criteria set out by ACPO, which has coordinated, written and published a report on the national findings of the audit, we submitted the number of tissue samples held on behalf of the force.
‘That number was 20.
‘Many cases predated computerised records, requiring lots of research and manual trawling of paper records to ensure the families of every victim were traced, visited and informed by our team of specially trained family liaison officers.
‘Of these 20, there were two investigations where the material was disposed of in line with the Home Office advice.’
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