'My father had to be cremated twice' - Son of Irish sporting hero speaks out

The son of Athletics Legend, Johnny Fox is calling for a meeting with An Taoiseach, Simon Harris after finding screws and bolts among his father’s cremated remains.

Sean Fox spoke to Newstalk Breakfast, this morning, Friday, June 21 to explain. 

Johnny, who died in April, was a big name in Irish athletics and was the first coach of track ­superstar Rhasidat Adeleke at Tallaght Athletics Club as well as also founding the annual Darkness into Light mental health fundraiser.

Upon his wish, Johnny was was cremated at Newlands Cross Crematorium and when his son opened the urn he found the screws and bolts and was horrified. 

Sean said: "What I found was some screws, some staples and some washers all mixed in together. Horrendous, unacceptable, worrying, just unbelievably traumatic. In fact before my dad passed away I didn't go into the hospital the last day, I didn't want to see him that way. We had a very good relationship, always treated him with the upmost respect and then when I opened up this, I don't know if I can even find words to describe how I felt."

Sean, when opening up the ashes, was planning on putting his dad's remains into lockets to have a piece of him with the family, however he ended up having to sieve through what he found. 

Sean said: "My sisters bought some lockets and when you get them you have this tiny little space to put some remains. When I opened up the ashes, I knew it wasn't going to fit into the locket so I moved the ashes around to find some smaller pieces at the bottom and then I hit something metal and it was a screw. I was almost physically sick and my sisters were in the other room and I didn't want to cause anymore distress. I put gloves on and I then had to place my hands inside of my father's remains and begin to remove the items. It was horrendous and I felt like I disrespected my father and my entire life I never did that for a man who has given so much of his life to community, to mental health and I was made disrespect him and that just is unacceptable and something needs to be done so this doesn't happen to any other family."

The Dublin Cemeteries Trust, who were responsible for the crematorium, told Newstalk Breakfast they "deeply regretted the stress and upset it has caused the family during the time of grief and are reviewing their processes to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Sean said: "When I made the first phone call to them, I was told we were not the first family to complain and then when I had the first meeting with them I was informed there was a hole in the equipment in January, my dad passed away in April. I was told even though it was fixed in January, remains were having to be cremated twice and to hear that was horrible and I was then told this was another new issue which happened to my father."