THE county’s police force kept the body parts of 44 murder victims and stored them in laboratories for decades without telling their grieving relatives.

West Mercia Police said it has nearly finished telling all the families involved but said the news caused “upset and distress”.

Until September 2006, forces were able to retain organs and tissue samples as evidence in cases of suspicious or unexplained death without notifying relatives.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has now asked for all forces to give information about any samples which have been kept over the last 25 years without relatives knowing and if it is still necessary to retain them.

So far only two forces have disclosed their findings.

West Mercia Police said body parts from 44 victims had been secretly kept in storage in laboratories.

While Avon and Somerset Police has revealed 110 victims had been buried missing organs which the force had held on to.

Following a suspicious or unexplained death, the police often use powers to retain material which has been taken from bodies at post mortem examinations.

Samples are retained to establish the cause of death and for potential evidential purposes.

In some cases material is retained for significant periods, particularly if it forms part of any lengthy criminal investigations.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said it is believed all apart from one family have now been contacted.

She said: “In April 2010 the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) informed NHS and local authority mortuaries that it would be auditing post mortem samples retained by them.

“While samples held by police for the prevention, detection or prosecution of crime do not by law fall under the HTA, the Association of Chief Police Officers is co-ordinating an audit of human tissues in historical suspicious death and homicide cases among all UK police forces and coronial services.

“This is to establish the current situation in terms of police holdings and will allow police forces to identify and consider the most appropriate way of sensitively dealing with material which is no longer needed for criminal justice purposes.

“West Mercia Police has completed its audit and was the first force to begin notifying the 44 families affected.

“We understand this caused upset and distress to those involved and we offered them as much support as possible.

“Teams of specially trained family liaison officers personally visited each family to explain the situation.”