Grieving mum's experience highlights need for regulation in funeral sector

Kerry Collard says she was turned away by multiple authorities when she tried to complain about a funeral service. (ABC South West WA: Gabrielle Becerra Mellet)

Kerry Collard says the care of her daughter's body by a funeral company was "unacceptable".

When she tried to complain about the service she received, she was turned away by multiple authorities.

Her experience has sparked renewed calls for increased and centralised regulation of the funeral industry.

When Kerry Collard's daughter Jessica died, her world was turned upside down.

WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions that readers may find distressing, and images of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.

Jessica Collard Horan was 39 years old when she was killed while a passenger in a car accident in regional Western Australia, leaving behind four children aged between eight and 15.

Ms Collard enlisted the services of a regional funeral director, which the ABC has decided not to identify.

The Noongar woman claims the funeral provider did not provide acceptable care of her daughter's remains.

She said when she tried to complain about the service, she was turned away by multiple authorities.

Jessica Collard Horan died after a car accident this year. (Supplied/Graphic: Mark Evans)

"Everybody that I've gone to wouldn't help," she said. "There was nothing I could do."

After the funeral company collected her daughter's remains from the coroner, Ms Collard said she made multiple requests over six days for a family viewing and to be able to dress her.

She said her requests were denied due to the poor condition of Ms Collard Horan's remains.

The family insisted and eventually viewed the body on January 30 at a facility near Perth, and Ms Collard said she was shocked by what she found.

Ms Collard said her daughter's body had been left inside a coronial body bag inside her coffin, her hair had debris throughout, and wounds were untreated.

"Her hair was really important to me, because I said to them her hair was her pride and joy," Ms Collard said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the initial funeral director Ms Collard engaged said Ms Collard Horan's body had been held by the coroner for 11 days before coming into the funeral service's care.

"The circumstances of Jessica's passing were complex, and our team dedicated considerable time, skill and care to her preparation," the funeral director said.

"The family viewed Jessica prior to the completion of that preparation, which was contrary to the recommendation of our staff."

Kerry Collard even