Kevin Fairfield’s family say they were robbed of the chance to say goodbye after the Co-Op admitted a procedural error left the 65-year-old’s body ‘extremely decomposed’
A devastated family claim their father was “left to rot” for 12 days at a Co-Op funeral parlour. Kevin Fairfield, 65, passed away suddenly from a heart attack at his residence on July 21, 2024. His children Keiron Fairfield, 42, Kali Hope, 34, and Kev Fairfield, 38, organised for the grandfather of seven to be taken to Co-Op funeral services in Dunfermline, Scotland that same evening.
They requested he be embalmed so they could pay their respects in a chapel of rest – and delivered his favourite suit. However, 10 days on, they say they received a telephone call from the funeral service warning them against visiting as “nature had taken its course”.
On Friday, August 2, the distraught family made arrangements for Callum Robertson funeral directors to assume responsibility for their father’s care and discovered his body had been neglected – and was “extremely decomposed”.
The family were informed it was impossible for Callum’s staff to prepare his body for viewing. Daughter Kali, a stay-at-home mother from Glenrothes, Fife, said: “I was absolutely heartbroken.
“We’re utterly devastated. I just wanted to hold his hand one last time and say ‘goodbye’ and I couldn’t. You put all your trust in these people, it’s the last thing you can do for someone, and they’ve messed it up.”
Keiron, who had spent time with his father the previous day, became worried upon seeing the curtains drawn when he arrived at his dad’s property to watch the Grand Prix as planned on the Sunday. He rang Kali as he opened the door, and discovered his father’s body in the dining room. Kev and Kali rushed to their childhood home, where paramedics and police soon arrived. Kevin had been living a perfectly normal life following a previous heart attack in February, according to Kali.
Kali said: “He adored all his grandchildren. He’d always get down on the floor to play with them. His death was sudden and unexpected, and our grief has been complicated and interrupted by what has happened.”
Co-op staff informed the family, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, that they were welcome to come and sit with Kevin’s coffin, yet no coffin had been arranged for him when Callum Robertson took over his care two days later.
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“Were they going to let us sit with an empty coffin?” Kali said. In a letter on August 6, Callum Robertson said: “Nothing had been done to care for him. There had been no preparation of his body. Due to the length of time that had passed, Mr Fairfield was extremely decomposed.”
His body had deteriorated severely, and the clothes he had died in 12 days previously had only just been removed and placed in a biohazard bag. Kevin’s body had not been embalmed, and the suit his family had provided remained untouched in its carrier.
The family were eventually able to hold a funeral for Kevin on August 9. Kali, who spoke to Sell Us Your Story, said: “We don’t feel like we’ve been able to grieve losing dad because this has overshadowed everything.
“We’re nearly two years down the line and I can’t even put into words how it feels. You want and need these people to take you by the hand and guide you.
“Instead the Co-Op have taken something away that we can’t get back. It’s left us with so much guilt that we let dad down, even though we did our best.
“I’d never heard of anything like this before, but now I’ve heard of it happening to so many people. Some people I’ve read about had this happen 12 years ago. It makes me feel sick.”
The family and Co-Op exchanged correspondence through solicitors until the Co-Op put forward a five-figure sum, which the family accepted on May 7 2025. The family have chosen not to reveal the amount they received.
The Co-Op issued an apology to the family, acknowledging that their standards had fallen short. The family plan to use some of the money to take Kevin’s ashes to Holland, where he holidayed once a year since he was a child.
Kali revealed that the information provided by the Co-Op was so inadequate that they had even produced two conflicting timelines of events. She also pointed out that they had recorded her father’s height incorrectly, listing him as over six foot, when he was in fact five foot nine.
Kali said: “It was never about the money, we would have walked away with nothing if we’d have got answers. We just want to understand how this went so wrong.
“Failure to care for a body properly should be a crime. Nothing can change what happened to dad, but we don’t want this happening to another family.
“We’ve all needed therapy and taken time out of our lives to come to terms with all this. When are they going to make changes so this doesn’t happen again. We were robbed of our chance to say ‘goodbye’ and we just miss him so much.”
Keiron said: “I am still struggling to understand how this was allowed to happen. Losing Dad was already devastating, but what followed made my grief so much harder to bear.
“We want clear answers about what happened, why it happened, and what is being done to make sure it never happens again. An apology is not enough unless it is matched by real accountability and change.”
A Co-op Funeralcare spokesperson responded: “At Co-op Funeralcare, we are committed to delivering the highest standards of professionalism, service and care for the thousands of bereaved families and their loved ones that we serve across the nation.
“On this occasion, we recognise that we did not meet these high standards due to a procedural error and for this we sincerely apologise. However, we are confident that Mr Fairfield was treated with the utmost dignity and respect during his time in our care.
“Following an investigation, actions were taken internally to prevent this from happening again and we also provided Mr Fairfield’s family with a full detailed timeline and summary of our findings.”
