The distressed family of a man whose body parts went missing from his corpse are offering $10,000 for information.

The relatives of Norman Palmer say they hope the reward will compel someone to step forward in assisting the Police with their inquiries.

The mystery of Mr. Palmer's missing organs is now the subject of an international investigation involving the Bermuda Coroner, a UK coroner and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Sister, Marion Bishop said yesterday: "We are all distraught. It's been almost three months since Norm's death and we are still no further along in knowing what happened to him. The family thought that maybe if we offered this reward it might help the investigation. Somebody out there knows something, Bermuda is a small island."

Mr. Palmer, 57, was not an organ donor but his family returned his body to the UK to find most of his organs were missing. The family made the horrific discovery after HM Coroner for East Somerset Tony Williams ordered another post-mortem, due to being dissatisfied with the cause of death as "respiratory failure".

Mr. Palmer, of Leafy Way, Paget, died on April 12 at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. The owner of Professional Excavating, he requested that his body be flown back to Britain to be cremated in the event of his death.

According to the pathologist's post-mortem report at Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset, the missing body parts include: two-thirds of the brain including the brain stem; one kidney; the spleen; the "upper mediastinal structures" including the throat, and most of the small and large intestines.

Both King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and funeral home Amis Memorial Chapels however, deny any wrongdoing in Mr. Palmer's care. A spokesman for the Bermuda Hospitals Board said "a small number of tissue samples were retained" in the post-mortem, but that "all organs were returned with the deceased to the funeral home in line with BHB's policy".

Funeral director Leon Amis of Amis Memorial Chapels meanwhile, said: "Everything was done as it was supposed to be done." He claims that during the embalming process, the intestines, kidneys, parts of the brain and other organs were placed in a cavity in the abdominal area.

Yesterday, Mr. Palmer's UK funeral directors, Irish and Denman, said the body arrived back in Britain in an embalmed state. Funeral director Nigel Irish told The Royal Gazette: "We collected Mr. Palmer's body from Gatwick Airport and took him straight to the hospital. The body was embalmed and so I told the Coroner's Officer I had no reason to examine it. It looked just as it was supposed to be."

Speaking of the post-mortem findings, Mr. Irish said: "It was quite shocking, and must be terrible for the family. If anyone carries out a post-mortem here (in the UK) they have to have signed consent from the family to take any parts. I can't see why anyone would want to keep any body parts though. It seems very strange."

Irish and Denman, of South Petherton in Somerset, have been the Palmer family's funeral directors for three generations. Mr. Irish said: "This has been a very difficult and distressing situation."

The family's anguish has been compounded by the manner in which Mr. Palmer died. After complaining of an obstruction in his throat, it allegedly took 20 minutes to get him to Accident and Emergency, despite living just five minutes from the hospital, near Tee Street.

Ms Bishop, of Paget, said yesterday: "It is impossible for any of us to go forward until we get answers. The ambulance fiasco was dreadful to say the least, and then we learn Norm's body parts are missing. Sometimes we think this is all just a terrible nightmare, so our days are spent mostly trying to find out exactly how this could have happened."

Mr. Palmer's wife Kathy, 59, said: "My heart has been broken by what's happened. We were married for 30 years and it is bad enough losing Norman, but this is just horrendous. I can't even eat or sleep."

If you have any information, please contact Marion Bishop at: 732-9555.