Mum told her son was dead by police - but then he answered the phone when she called

Anita McDonnell was devastated when police said her son had died. In disbelief, she rang his number- and her son picked up

Police officers told Anita McDonnell her son had passed away- even though he was actually alive and well.

They had mistaken her son, Wes McDonnelll, for a man who died in a park.

Speaking to Mirror Online, the dad-of-three slammed the Merseyside force, claiming they "put two and two together and got five", after finding Wes' Facebook account and seeing that he had the same name as the deceased man.

Mr McDonnell, 39, said: "Police turned up at my mum's house, sat her down and told her I was dead.

"She rang me up thinking I wasn't going to answer the phone and when I answered she was hysterical. When I picked the phone up she was crying."

Merseyside Police apologised for any distress caused to the family, which suffered another tragedy 16 years ago when Mr McDonnell's sister took her own life.

Wes added: "My sister committed suicide 16 years ago so you can imagine [my mum's] state."

Explaining the mistake, Mr McDonnell said: "I've got the same name as the lad who died. I'm guessing they found his name on his ID. They went on Facebook and typed in my name.

"They saw I had friends on there from the forces - the lad who died was in the forces - and assumed that I'm this lad.

"Merseyside Police rang my mum on Monday and said that's how they did it, they looked on Facebook. They put two and two together and got five.

"I can't believe that's how someone's identified when they die - is that what they do? Surely there's got to be more than that."

The dead man was found in a children's park in St Helens on Sunday.

Police first approached Wes' girlfriend who passed on his mother's details.

The officers who visited his mother's home in Northampton also spoke to Wes over the phone, when he explained that he had not been on Facebook since 2015.

The police also asked if he had any connections to Merseyside and requested proof of his identity.

Recalling the moment she found two police officers at her door, Anita said her "heart started pounding" when they asked to come in for a chat.

The 63-year-old added: "He came in and said 'would you like to sit down', I said 'why', he looked me in the face and said 'is your son Wesley? I've got some bad news, I'm sorry to tell you that Wesley just passed away'.

"I just started screaming. I said 'no, no, no, no'. I'd been texting him in the morning and he didn't answer the text.

"I said to them I'd just been texting him and I didn't put a kiss at the end of the text message."

Anita then decided to call her son, who "took ages" to answer the phone.

"When I heard his voice I was still crying and shaking. I was still locked in that mindset," she said.

"I believed him (the officer), when he said my son was dead. I so much believed him as they are the police.

"I lost my daughter 16 years ago and it's put me right back to where I was then. I feel like I've got the weight of the world on my head."

However, the Northamptonshire Police officers who visited her home claim Merseyside Police is responsible for the error.

The mother-of-four said the police need to take further action to prevent another blunder, by asking families more questions before announcing a loved one's death.

Ms McDonnell added: "I could have had a heart attack. My son was furious, he kept saying 'this has taken 10 years off your life'.

"This can't happen to anyone else. I feel sorry for the two policemen who told me."

Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jon Roy said: "We are extremely sorry for any distress that we have caused to Mr McDonnell and his family.

"We have had further contact with Mr McDonnell’s family and a full internal review is under way so we can understand exactly what happened, and assess what we can learn from this incident to ensure it does not happen again."

A Northamptonshire Police spokesman added: "We do not underestimate how much distress this experience caused this family.

“We would like to assure them that we are also reviewing this incident, alongside Merseyside Police, to ascertain what we can learn from it and to ensure that a similar one does not happen again.”

Mr McDonnell has submitted a complaint to Merseyside Police via the Independent Police Complaints Commission.