Second mother speaks out against funeral director who made her ‘collect own dead baby at 3am’ from her home

Another mother has spoken out against the alleged actions of funeral director Amie Upton.

Cody Townend sadly gave birth to a stillborn little girl at St James's Hospital in Leeds, but after being led to believe that her body was taken to a funeral parlour, the mother said she was made to pick her baby's remains up from Upton's home.

Upton, 38, has recently been criticised by another mum, Zoe Ward, who claimed that she discovered her dead son in a bouncer 'watching cartoons' in Upton's living room.

The news comes after the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said it banned Upton from its mortuaries and maternity wards earlier this year.

Ward alleged that the director had possession of her three-week-old baby, Bleu, who died of brain damage at Leeds General Infirmary in 2021.

In both cases, the director was cleared of any criminal wrong-doing potentially due to a bizarre legal 'loophole'.

Cody Townend said she was made to pick her baby up from Upton's house at 3am (Getty Stock Image)

Despite being told the baby had to be kept in a 'professional setting', Ward went to visit him and was left mortified at the truth.

Now, Townend has claimed that she was made to pick her 'deteriorated' dead baby up 'at 3am' from Upton's own home.

Deciding to go to Upton after hearing positive things about the director's work in similar cases, she was led to believe that the baby was taken to a funeral parlour.

But this wasn't the case, as the baby was allegedly taken to Upton's private home, five miles from the parlour.

In a Facebook post, Townend said: "I saw [my baby] the day after she got out of hospital, I never got to see her after. Then taking our baby to her home, the only house my baby should have been to was my own.

"I never got any final moments with my child, she promised me days and days after I could see her."

She went on allege: "We had to collect her at 3am. I got there... my dead child was laid on her sofa like it's a normal behaviour.

"She didn't store her in a cold cot and she deteriorated. I couldn't see my first and only baby that way, that's not how I wanted to remember her."

Townend did clarify that while Upton was 'amazing in the hospital', she allegedly took her child from the morgue.

"Amie Upton, I was grateful for what you did in the hospital but not for what you did to me, my family and my poor innocent child," she emotionally stated.

Upton was called out by Townend for allegedly taking her baby from the morgue (Facebook)

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mark Sewards, MP for Leeds, said that to the family's 'horror', the baby was taken to Upton's own home.

"When they went to recover their daughter's body, there was very clear evidence that their daughters' body had not been cared for, had not being treated with the respect and the dignity that she deserved," he noted.

Sewards acknowledged that the fact that police 'found nothing actionable' was 'one of the most shocking things' about the case, as he outlined his intention to change the laws around it.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said of both reported cases: "When we first became aware of concerns, we implemented extra steps in our mortuary services on top of our already robust measures.

"Since 2021 we have had specific safeguarding measures in place, including monitoring [Ms Upton's] attendance when visiting deceased patients at the mortuary in her funeral service role."

LADbible has reached out to Amie Upton and Florrie's Army for comment.