A little girl’s ashes found in a Merseyside park have trigged a mystery as to why they were put there 46 years ago.
A wooden box containing the remains of Yvonne Harrison, who passed away aged just 12 on February 3, 1977, were discovered by a walker in Hesketh Park in Southport last year and now the public have been asked to solve the puzzle and help track down her family, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The gold plaque on the front of the oak box reads ‘Eyvonne Harrison’, but cemetery worker Chris Brown said: “The authority card inside the casket confirms that the name is actually Yvonne.”
He went on: “We received a phone call from Southport crematorium. They asked if we had a record for this name.
“They gave me the date of death and all the information they had, and I found the deceased within our ledger.
“Any set of ashes is really important that it is in the correct hands, but in this case, with it being a child, I think it's really important that the ashes are reunited with the family.”
Mother-of-two Emma Lawless, 34, made the discovery last year while on a day out with her daughters and she explained what happened, telling the Liverpool Echo: “There’s a ramp down to a rose garden and it was just placed on top of weeds and ivy. It appeared from nowhere.
“I’d been a couple of days before and it wasn't there then. I went over and had a look.
“At first, I probably thought it was a dog's [ashes] or something and we went on our way. I went back the next week and it was there again.
"I thought I'd pick it up and see if it's empty or full, but it was full. It was very heavy.
“I just want to get her back with whoever has lost her. It’s heartbreaking as I'm a mum myself, especially to girls – it's touched home.
“She was only 12 when she died, it's quite upsetting.”
After being found, the casket was taken to Southport Crematorium, and was later traced to Preston. The Register of Cremations names a James Harrison of Holme Slack, Preston, as the person who made Yvonne’s cremation application.
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