Milenko Kindl

LONDON (Reuters) - A father mistakenly declared dead after going
missing eight years ago has been reunited with his family after his
son spotted him on television, police said on Thursday.
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The family of John Delaney thought he had died when he disappeared in
April 2000. They held a funeral and cremation after police found what
they thought was his body three years later.

But Delaney, 71, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, had in fact been
admitted to hospital in a confused state 10 days after he was reported
missing.

Suffering from amnesia caused by a head injury, he couldn't give
police any clues about his name, address or family.

When further police checks failed to uncover his identity, he was
given the new name David Harrison and handed over to social services.
They put him in a care home where he stayed for the next eight years.

Meanwhile, a badly decomposed body found in the grounds of Manchester
Royal Infirmary in 2003 was mistakenly identified as that of Delaney.
His family was informed and they arranged a funeral and cremation
later that year.

The truth of what happened to Delaney only emerged earlier this year
when he appeared on a daytime television show about missing people.

His son John Renehan, 42, happened to be watching TV after working a
night shift. He recognized his father and the pair were reunited after
DNA tests confirmed they were related.

"I was in shock. We thought we had cremated my Dad. But I knew it was
him," Renehan told the Manchester Evening News.

In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said it had made mistakes
and the family had been through a "traumatic" ordeal.

"At that time, only paper records of people reported missing from home
existed," it said.

"Today, Greater Manchester Police has advanced systems in place to
ensure that mistakes of this nature are not made.

"Robust checks are made to establish the identity of people who cannot
immediately confirm who they are."

Police are trying to establish the identity of the man who was
cremated in 2003. The officer who initially dealt with the case has
since retired.
Milenko Kindl
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