A bereaved mother is battling for answers after discovering her tragic daughter was buried without her brain.

The 33-year-old was horrified to find out about the missing organ ten years after the 18-month-old's body was buried.

Her baby was rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary in April 1992 after suffering a severe head injury in a fall. She was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary for a scan and put on a life support machine, but doctors later pronounced her brain-dead.

The baby's brain was removed as part of the post mortem examination, and the body was later taken to Pakistan for burial. Now she has only just discoverd that some body tissue samples were stored in laboratories in Sheffield, but she is still trying to find out what happened to her baby's brain.

Organ donation for medical research is against the Muslim faith, which believes the body should be buried as a whole. She said: "If anything had happened, we should have been told. I want to raise awareness about this in the Muslim community. I want other parents to speak up and find out what's happened to their children."

The Bradford mum, who is too upset to be named, said: "They asked us twice if we wanted to donate body parts for research and we said 'no' because we are Muslims. As soon as she stopped breathing, they picked her up and took her away, there was no time to grieve.

"When we got the body back to be bathed in the Muslim tradition, it was badly mutilated from the post-mortem, but we didn't know parts or organs were taken out and stored."

Under English law, coroners can order post-mortem examinations, including removal of the brain for tests, to establish the cause of death.

But the mother said she had no idea it was a possibility until she watched a debate on TV. A letter from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust last month could only reveal that the brain "would have been disposed of", she added.

"There's no date for how, when or where. The tissue samples were at Sheffield, but we're not sure what they intended to do with them. That's one of the first things we want to resolve.

"I want to know what's happened to her brain and what tests they did - I want to see the evidence. They knew we were Muslim and we don't donate body parts, and they still took them regardless."

Her 38-year-old sister said the body was like a "rag doll" when it was returned to be bathed. She added: "Our life is run by laws that we have to follow. We live our life to take something with us when we die. Life isn't the end, it's a testing period.

"It's horrific. I don't want to see my children go through this, I want to prevent it. I don't want everything to be taken out to leave an empty corpse."

The sisters are now hoping to set up a support group for Muslim families and highlight faith issues with the Retained Organs Commission, which is reviewing the handling of organ and tissue retention.

A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust today said more information was now passed on to parents about the post-mortem examinations.

"We obviously try to be as sensitive as possible to the varied needs of different faiths," he said. "We have been in touch with this lady and explained what happened and we unreservedly apologise for any distress that has been caused."

Anyone who would like to contact the family can call (01274) 705256 for details.