GWENT families launched a legal battle against hospital trusts after discovering body parts of their dead loved ones were removed and retained without their knowledge.

Five families from Gwent are among over 60 Welsh claimants involved in a nationwide battle against NHS trusts.

Test cases to determine the outcome of over 2000 claims in England and Wales will be heard in the High Court in London in January.

Among those involved is Shaun McGuire, from Bettws, Newport, whose son, Brendan, died in May 1974.

Brendan was just 36 hours old when he died after an unsuccessful operation at the Royal Gwent Hospital to correct an intestinal problem.

Mr McGuire first made inquiries to the Gwent NHS Trust following the Alder Hey and Bristol Royal Infirmary scandals in the 1990s.

After initially denying any post-mortem examination had taken place, hospital bosses admitted last year that one was carried out, and tissues retained from Brendan's liver, kidney and lungs.

Mr McGuire said: "I have always believed there was a cover-up over what happened to my son and want heads to roll. You can never get over the loss of a child."

Another Gwent claimant is John Ricketts, whose son, Leon, died in June 1992, aged nine. Leon was born with hydrocephalus and cerebral palsy, and was not expected to live beyond the age of two.

Mr Ricketts and Leon's mother, Cheryl Downes, from Thornhill, Cwmbran, held a second funeral for Leon last May after discovering organ tissue was retained by the Royal Gwent Hospital.

Mr Ricketts said: "I wouldn't want my worst enemy to go through what we are going through."

The writ was lodged by solicitor Victoria Lord, from Altrincham firm Alexander Harris, who are acting as agent for Bristol solicitors Clarke Wilmott Clarke.

It accuses the trusts of negligence, wrongful interference with the body and breaches of both the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Human Tissue Act 1961.

Mervyn Fudge, from Clarke Wilmott Clarke, who is the lead solicitor in the case, said: "The estimate that the total claim is worth £150,000 is the lowest estimate should the case be successful."

The other Gwent families include two from Blackwood, and one from Newport.