An inquest into the death of a man whose body parts went missing from his corpse will be held in public in January, it was announced by the Police last night.

An investigation into the disappearance of Norman Palmer's organs is being carried out by the Bermuda Coroner, the Coroner for East Somerset in the UK, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mr. Palmer's family have repeatedly complained that they are still awaiting answers from the Bermuda Police Service and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) into the circumstances of his death, and have called for the inquest to be held in public.

In October, The Royal Gazette reported that for the past year, Coroner Archibald Warner has held the majority of inquests into sudden or unnatural deaths in private, on a 'file review' basis. He is to reserve open hearings for "special interest" cases.

Last month, Mr. Palmer's sister Marion Bishop said: "We would like a public inquest. We don't know how my brother died and his body parts are still missing.

"The ambulance took 20 minutes to get there, and then my brother was in ER for another 20 minutes. Then his body was mutilated — is that the way bodies are normally handled?"

Ms Bishop has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the return of her brother's missing organs. Last night, a Bermuda Police Service press release stated: "On the afternoon of Friday November 28, the Senior Coroner Mr. Archibald Warner directed to the Coroner's Officer Sergeant Adrian Cook that after receiving the investigation file into the death of Norman Palmer, and after due and proper consideration, he has decided that a public inquest hearing shall be held on the grounds of public interest.

"Mr. Warner has instructed that Magistrate Wor. Mr. Khamisi Tokunbo will act as Coroner in this inquest. Subject to confirmation by the properly interested parties, who have been notified, the Coroner has postulated a target start date of Thursday January 15 2009."

Mr. Palmer, 57, of Leafy Way, Paget, died on April 12 at KEMH. He was not an organ donor but when his body was returned to the UK, a second post-mortem revealed the following parts were missing: two-thirds of the brain; a kidney; the spleen; the "upper mediastinal structures" including the throat, the aorta arch of the heart; and most of the small and large intestines.

Both KEMH and funeral home Amis Memorial Chapel have denied any wrongdoing. UK funeral directors, Irish and Denman of Petherton in Somerset, also say the body arrived in an embalmed state with no signs of the casket being tampered with.

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. The purpose of an inquest is to determine who the deceased was, when they died, where they died, how they died and under what circumstances.