A RUNCORN couple have hit out after hearing hundreds of parents whose dead babies' organs were removed and stored without their permission are facing fresh heartbreak.

The NHS is refusing to pay legal bills of half the 1,348 families as they fight for compensation, it has been revealed.

And that could see them left with as little as £500 after years of bitter wrangling.

NHS bosses offered the families £3.3million compensation after the High Court ruled last March many hospitals across the UK had broken the law. That meant each family would get about £2,448.

But health chiefs now argue more than half of them didn't suffer foreseeable psychological damage and won't pay solicitors' bills.

And the Legal Services Commission, which funds legal aid, wants some of the money back which paid for nearly half of the families High Court action.

Once many of the parents settle their own legal costs, which are currently average £1,618 each, and other expenses, they could be out of pocket.

Cindy and Graham Bewes, of Runcorn, who discovered the bodies of their still-born twin babies Danielle and Lauren were kept at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, got £5,000 compensation and an apology after settling at arbitration.

Cindy said: 'I feel desperately sorry for the families because now it seems the only ones who are going to win are the lawyers.

'I feel very strongly every family should receive the same amount - not because it is about the money but because we should be treated equally.

'The most important thing was always getting an apology.

'We had as positive an outcome as was possible.

'Alder Hey stood up and apologised. The Government stood up and apologised.

'It gives closure but their heartache is going on and on.'

The organ scandal first came to light in 1999 when it was discovered Bristol Royal Infirmary took children's organs for research without first asking loved ones.

Other investigations showed Alder Hey did the same.