Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust says it has made “immediate enhancements” to security arrangements and reviewed the measures it has in place after a man broke into the mortuary at Diana, Princess of Wales hospital in Grimsby before committing sexual crimes against multiple deceased people.
Police were called to the hospital on Sunday 17 March following reports of a break-in. Damon Tingay, who is from Grimsby, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of burglary. While in custody he was also charged with a sexual offence and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence against a deceased adult and intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance.
Mr Tingay has since been jailed for six years after he was found to have performed sexual acts on two deceased men. He will serve a further four on licence and has been given a lifetime sexual harm prevention order.
Now, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, the organisation which runs the hospital, says they are working to ensure security practices are “robust, and that the deceased patients in our care are safe and well looked after”, to ensure the “appalling” incident cannot be repeated.
A spokesperson said: “We attended Grimsby Crown Court and we are aware of the defendant’s sentence.
“This appalling incident was caused by the actions of a rogue individual, after they forced entry to our mortuary facility in Grimsby. Since this occurred, we have worked with Humberside Police, our regulators and stakeholders in order to make some immediate enhancements to arrangements, and to review our security measures at all of our mortuary sites in the Humber region. We have been in regular contact with the Human Tissue Authority, who visited the site shortly after the incident, to review practices within our mortuary services to ensure they are robust, and that the deceased patients in our care are safe and well looked after.
“Our principal concern of course is the wellbeing of the families of those who have been affected by the dreadful actions of this individual and out of respect for them, we won’t be commenting any further at this time.”
