The professor at the centre of the organ removal scandal has been accused of lying to bereaved parents and stealing medical records.

The revelations were made with the publication of the report into the Alder Hey Children's' Hospital in Liverpool on Tuesday. Consent forms and a reform of regulations governing coroners' procedures will now follow.

Health secretary, Alan Milburn, said that the vast majority of organs, obtained by stripping bodies until they were mere shells, were never used for any sort of research. Milburn called the practice "unethical" and "unforgivable".

He said that Professor Dick Van Velzen, who worked at the hospital from 1988 to 1995, had lied to parents, lied to other doctors, stolen medical records and falsified statements.

Among the body parts removed were 2000 hearts, some brains, eyes from foetuses and still-born babies and even several heads. The NHS, Milburn said, would never be able to tell parents what happened to every organ of every child. He also revealed that more than 105,000 organs have been retained by NHS hospitals across the UK.

Milburn told MPs: "Van Velzen ignored parents' wishes even when parents gave express instructions that they did not want a post mortem. Parents cannot even take comfort that their children's' organs were used for life-saving research. Those who did wrong will now be held accountable."

Van Velzen has been referred to the , Merseyside police has been brought in to investigate and the Director of Public Prosecutions will decide on criminal proceedings. Four hospital employees have been suspended and the director of the hospital trust has been dismissed.

The health secretary said: "For any parent the death of a child is a tragedy. To bury their child, to grieve is how many families come to terms with their loss. It is hard to imagine how the many Alder Hey families feel.

"The question in the minds of parents and others is 'how did Van Velzen get away with it for so long?' The university and hospital failed to take action. These failures were compounded by the incompetence and consent of both the hospital and university authorities. The hospital seemed over-run by events. The university seems to have turned its back on parents."