Body sent back 'missing a kidney'

The parents of a 24-year-old man who died after an accident on the Greek island of Rhodes are demanding an investigation into why the body of their son was returned with a kidney missing.

Christopher Rochester's mother Pam Cummings, 44, and his stepfather George Cummings, 42, from Chester-le-Street Co Durham, fear their son's kidney may have been sold on the black market.

Three months after his body was flown back to England in June last year by Rhodes General hospital, the Greek authorities returned a kidney. DNA tests showed it did not match.

Mr Cummings told The Sunday Telegraph: "If a recipient has got Chris's kidney and knows nothing about where it came from, then we wish him a long, happy and healthy life. We wish him the exact opposite if he knew where the kidney came from and paid money for it. It has vanished off the face of the earth. It could be inside somebody. It could be incinerated; it could be sitting in a jar at Rhodes hospital. We don't know."

Mr Rochester died on holiday after a fall from a balcony. After a post-mortem examination in Dryburn hospital, Durham, doctors discovered his kidney was missing.

A British coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death but criticised the "clear neglect" of medical staff at the Rhodes hospital after hearing evidence that he had been denied proper medical attention.

It is understood that post-mortem examinations in Greece often involve organ removal and that British consular officials have been advised to tell families about it. Michael Balanos, the president of Rhodes general called the family's claims "preposterous".