Australia Post apologise after Jack Beasley’s ashes go missing in the mail for months

Ashes belonging to slain teen Jack Beasley set aside by his grieving mother for memorial jewellery were lost for months after a blunder by Australia Post.

ASHES belonging to slain teen Jack Beasley set aside by his grieving mother for a memorial jewellery were lost for months after a blunder by Australia Post.

Belinda Beasley sent a quarter of a teaspoon of her son’s ashes to a memorial business in Healesville, Victoria, in August, which was to be put into a ring.

Parts of Victoria were in COVID-19 lockdown at that time

She expected it to take about 10 days, but weeks later she was told the package never arrived.

Following a four-month mammoth effort by the family and Above and Beyond Funerals, which facilitated Jack’s funeral, to track down the parcel they were finally reunited days before Christmas.

The major blunder prompted an apology by Australia Post on Wednesday and an urgent investigation into how the package was lost.

It comes as the latest Ombudsman report into the activities of Australia Post found complaints were up 69.7 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Brett Beasley and Belinda Beasley..Picture Glenn Hampson

Of these complaints, more than a quarter were to do with damaged or missing items.

“I was just devastated. I just could not believe it,” Mrs Beasley told the Bulletin.

“I was beside myself. I was supposed to do it at the beginning of the year but I kept on putting it off. I kept thinking what happens if it gets lost … and then it happened.

“It’s not good enough, but I got him back that’s the main thing. I don’t want anyone to get into trouble or anything like that but maybe they just need to take a little bit of care with all their packages because you never know what’s actually in there.”

Jack Beasley died from a stab wound on December 13, 2019 while walking in Surfers Paradise with friends. The matter remains before the court. Five people have been charged with his death.

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Funeral director Rebecca Bailey, who helped track down the package with help from friends at Australia Post, said: “Every time I spoke to Belinda we just ended up crying because it was like a part of him was missing, even though it was a small part.”

She said for weeks they tried to find the package.

Above and Beyond Funerals Rebecca Bailey (left) with Belinda Beasley.

“Each time we tried a different avenue it would come up that there was no record of it,” she said.

The funeral director claimed they rang different Australia Posts to see if it had been logged, but it hadn’t.

“Somewhere along the line he (the parcel) hadn’t been scanned in,” she said.

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But on December 5 in the middle of the night she received a message to say there had been movement.

“It was actually in Healesville (north east of Melbourne). Sure enough that was Jacko’s ashes,” she said.

“We don’t know how he got to Healesville. We were checking the tracking number every day.

“We don’t even know when he left the Gold Coast.”

Jack Beasley

A week later the ring was ready to be sent back to the Coast but after the debacle they decided against sending it back with Australia Post. Instead, it was brought back by a funeral service where it was safely tucked in the front seat of the vehicle.

An Australia Post spokesman said: “We sincerely apologise for the distress this has caused the family during such a difficult time.

“Australia Post takes the delivery of mail and parcels very seriously, and while the vast majority make it to their destination on time, it’s clear that something has gone wrong in this case.

“We have spoken with the family to apologise, and are looking into what occurred as a matter of priority.”