A distressed mother today asked York District Hospital chiefs to give her a straight answer after a letter left her still unsure what happened to her beloved daughter's body.

Tracey Drury, of Bramham Grove, Chapelfields, was just 23 when her four-year-old daughter, Shelley, died after a series of epileptic fits in 1989.

Tracey, now 35, says she hoped the letter from York Health Trust, released in the wake of the Alder Hey organs scandal, would put her mind at rest about body parts removed after Shelley died.

But instead she is left still not knowing if Shelley's brain could be in a jar gathering dust on a hospital shelf.

A York Health Trust spokeswoman said: "We are extremely concerned to hear of Mrs Drury's anxieties. We are committed to working openly with all the families involved and will be contacting Mrs Drury immediately to discuss all the issues she has raised."

Tracey said that after Shelley died a post-mortem examination was conducted at York District Hospital. She then buried her daughter.

But two weeks after the death, she says a doctor visited her home to tell her Shelley's brain had been removed.

Tracey found out for the first time in the letter she received this week that tissue samples were also taken and retained from her daughter and she can arrange to get the samples back.

She said: "It's pathetic really. What am I going to do with samples from my dead daughter ?"

Tracy's story emerged as York Health Trust apologised for giving the Evening Press the wrong helpline number to give to parents wanting to follow up on organ retention matters.

The number it released was for the alcohol unit at Bootham Park hospital.

The correct number to call is 01904 454424 and a spokeswoman said: "It was a mistake and we're very sorry."

Tracey's letter from York District Hospital said Shelley's brain had been sent to Leeds for specialist examination. It said: "No other organs from Michelle are still held at our hospital."

Tracey said: "It says 'our hospital', does this mean there are organs at other hospitals?

"If everything is OK and I buried her with all her organs apart from her brain, then my question is, where is her brain now?

"Is it in a jar on a shelf somewhere?

"For 12 years I've had the knowledge that my daughter's brain was missing and then when it all came out with the Alder Hey scandal, it brought it all back. Now I think, if they could take her brain, what else have they taken?

"I was only 23 at the time she died and I was very young. Now I'm older and wiser and I can't believe they could have taken organs without permission."

Tracey's letter says other organs were taken and returned before the burial, but Tracey has reasons to doubt this.

She said: "I've got the autopsy report and it says major organs were subjected to a histology examination and taken for examination and reports would be two months.

"They're contradicting themselves. Am I one of the lucky ones, and does the information they've given me mean there aren't any organs of Shelley's out there, they've put them all back? I don't know."

Updated: 11:08 Tuesday, May 22, 2001