A mother who has campaigned for more than 50 years to find her stillborn son said her baby "did not die in vain" after receiving a personal government apology in a call from the health secretary.

Gina Jacobs, of Greasby, Wirral, did not learn where her son Robert had been buried until 53 years after his stillbirth in 1969.

More than 1,000 infants were buried in unmarked graves across Wirral and a mass burial ground in Oldham, Greater Manchester, also contained more than 270 babies.

The government issued a "profound apology" to parents whose stillborn babies were buried in mass graves without their knowledge, and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper personally called Jacobs on her mobile.

Jacobs, who never saw her baby, said Health Secretary Yvette Cooper personally called her to apologise and it renewed her believe that Robert died so other babies could be found.

She said: "She phoned me herself on my mobile and my sister said are you sure it's Yvette Cooper?

"She apologised and then told me what was going to happen.

"It kind of didn't sink in for a little bit because I thought, well, it's the health secretary phoning me herself.

"She's giving me a personal call and then I thanked her."

"I'm walking on air to be honest, because I can't believe I've got this apology.

"My babies, all my babies, because I think of them all as my babies, have now got the dignity and respect that they didn't get at the time.

"It was landfill for babies. It really was a 100 to a grave."

Before the 1980s, it was common practice for stillborn babies to be taken away from mothers by hospital staff and buried in communal graves.

Wirral Council has previously said that stillborn babies were interred at Frankby, Plymyard and Landican cemeteries between 1935 and 1981.