Amie Upton, 38, has denied placing a dead child in a baby bouncer ‘watching cartoons’ following a BBC investigation
Amie Upton, 38, said the allegations against her were ‘ridiculous’
A funeral director has been accused of leaving a deceased child in a baby bouncer ‘watching cartoons’.
Amie Upton, 38, is facing allegations after a grieving mother told a BBC investigation that she was left “screaming” after allegedly finding her deceased son in Upton’s living room.
Another mum, whose stillborn child was at one point was also allegedly taken by Ms Upton to her home, told them: “It was just crazy. If I told somebody of this story… they’d think it was a horror film.”
It has now been revealed that Ms Upton had been banned from NHS maternity wards and mortuaries in Leeds. Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust confirmed that Ms Upton, who operates Florrie’s Army, was barred from its mortuaries and maternity wards earlier this year after ‘several serious concerns’ were raised.
Ms Upton, 38, from Leeds, has dismissed the allegations against her as “ridiculous”, reports the Mirror.
‘I was screaming’
The BBC reported how Zoe Ward’s baby, Bleu, was three weeks old when he died of brain damage at Leeds General Infirmary in 2021.
Ms Ward, 32, said she had requested Florrie’s Army to organise his funeral, following a recommendation from a family friend, and Bleu’s body was collected from the hospital. She believed he would be taken to a “professional setting”.
Zoe Ward claims her son’s body was left in Amie’s home in unsuitable conditions
However, Ms Ward claims when she visited the next day, she was “terrified” to see Ms Upton “watching” cartoons with her son’s body beside her in a baby bouncer in the living room.
“I realised it were Bleu and she (Ms Upton) says: ‘Come in, we’re watching PJ Masks’.”
The cartoon is based on masked superheroes. The mum said: “There’s a cat scratcher in the corner and I can hear a dog barking and there was another (dead) baby on the sofa. It wasn’t a nice sight.
“I rang my mum and I’m saying, ‘This ain’t right’… I was screaming down the phone (saying): ‘It’s mucky, it’s dirty, he can’t stay here.'”.
Ms Ward said her mother then organised for a different funeral director to collect Bleu’s body and he was taken away from Ms Upton’s care. “I didn’t want him in that house,” Ms Ward said, adding the “bizarre” experience had left her “distressed and furious”.
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Another couple allegedly told the BBC they were put in touch with Ms Upton through a family friend after their daughter was stillborn at another Leeds hospital, St James’, earlier this year.
They claim they had agreed to their daughter being taken by Florrie’s Army, as Ms Upton had supposedly led them to believe the body was being kept at a funeral parlour in Headingley until the burial.
But a week later, they allege Ms Upton had told them their daughter was at her house – five miles away from where they had expected her to be. They claim they had not given their consent for her to be taken there.
“I just didn’t know why she was there,” said the mum, who described it has being like a ‘horror film’. The couple said they were unaware of how long their daughter’s body had been at Ms Upton’s premises, but the mum suspects it hadn’t been stored at the proper temperature, describing it as “really smelly, like she’d been in there and not kept cool.”
What Amie Upton has said
The BBC approached Ms Upton for comment regarding allegations that her home was inappropriate for storing babies’ bodies. The Mirror has likewise sought a response.
Ms Upton didn’t address all the BBC’s claims, though they reported she had received just two complaints during the eight years since establishing Florrie’s Army. Numerous Facebook reviews of her services remain positive, with some families calling the service “beautiful…amazing…and inspirational”.
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Ms Upton told The Mirror she hadn’t cared for children at her residence for four years. She also revealed how she began supporting bereaved families only after losing an unborn child herself in 2017.
Her baby died and Ms Upton says claims she was left in a coma after her abusive former partner repeatedly struck her with a child’s pushchair, causing her stomach to collide with an open freezer door. The infant’s father Shaun Birchall, 28, received a two-year prison sentence after admitting to grievous bodily harm (GBH).
Responding to the allegations, Ms Upton told The Mirror that babies were previously cared for at her home four years ago, as many families find it unbearable to imagine their child alone in a mortuary or funeral parlour.
Regarding allegations one baby was left in a bouncer, she said: “I had a laid-down chair that I used to transfer them into while I changed the bedding. It wasn’t a bouncer.
A baby bouncer with toys and towels(Image: Getty Images)
“So she’s making out like I stuck a baby in a bouncer and I’m bouncing away. That’s not what we’re happening. Her baby was laid in a laid back chair that we had that we used to transfer babies from the beds.”
Florrie’s Army claims to support grieving parents, providing complimentary handprints, photographs, baby clothing and a specialised funeral service.
In response to the allegations levelled against her, Amie said: “I understand, it’s not something you hear every day. The first ever baby I brought home, (the family) could not sing my praises enough. I don’t want to pull apart mortuaries or the funeral industry but I know here the babies were never left alone. I was always here.
“They were always clean and tidy and were not deteriorating or smelly as claimed on posts I’ve seen today…We had refrigerating units up there and cold cots. The babies here were not put in a fridge when staff go home but I was here all the time.
“Their babies knew nothing but love. You don’t find nurses reading their babies a story. I would. I know I only ever did my best. It is ridiculous. .”
The funeral sector remains unregulated across England and Wales. No legal stipulations exist regarding how and where bodies must be stored, while no qualifications are required to establish oneself as a funeral director.
The government has yet to address a recommendation made by an inquiry in July, which urged the introduction of statutory regulations in England.
NHS trust received ‘serious concerns’
West Yorkshire Police confirmed it had examined two complaints concerning Ms Upton’s funeral service since 2021, but stated that following “extensive enquiries… no potential crimes were identified”. A spokesman said: “Since 2021, we have received two reports alleging improper care provided by an infant funeral service in Harehills, Leeds.
“Detectives carried out extensive enquiries into both reports, exploring multiple legislative and regulatory avenues, including liaison with partners, to establish whether there were any criminal matters to investigate. No potential crimes were identified.
“We acknowledge that the concerns raised by these two families would have added to the distress they felt during an already incredibly difficult time. Our thoughts remain with them.”
Rabina Tindale, Chief Nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Over the past few years we have received several serious concerns about services provided by Amie Upton.
“Given these concerns, and the fact that some families have believed services are linked to or supported by the Trust, we must be clear that neither Amie Upton or Florrie’s Army is endorsed by, or associated with, Leeds Teaching Hospitals.
“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 Amie’s attendance when visiting deceased patients at the mortuary in her funeral service role. Any visitors to the mortuary are always accompanied by mortuary staff.
“Any handover of a body is undertaken in line with Trust policies and procedures and takes place to an authorised funeral director.
“Actions were further strengthened this year, including Amie no longer being allowed to be present in our Maternity services unless as a patient herself.
“Over the past few years, our concerns have been raised with the police, external safeguarding services and relevant regulators.
“We support bereaved families during their most difficult times through tailored, compassionate and regulated services. We have dedicated staff, including bereavement midwives and nurses, who provide personalised support for bereaved mothers and their families. They always respect each family’s individual needs and wishes.”
On a JustGiving page with Ms Upton listed as the organiser, they discuss raising £3,500 to establish a Florrie’s Army Day Centre “to enable us to carry on our daily activities on a much larger scale.” They state they assist more than a hundred families weekly by providing supplies and support.