THE Scottish Justice Secretary is to meet parents whose babies' ashes were buried without their knowledge in a mass unmarked grave.

First official figures show parents of 150 babies – some of whose remains were buried in a cardboard box in the grounds of Mortonhall Crematorium in Edinburgh – have contacted council chiefs directly through an online facility set up in response to demands for answers over the "cruel" mistreatment of infants' ashes.

Kenny MacAskill is to meet parents as a petition calling for a public inquiry into the scandal has more than 3000 signatures, and is rising by 500 a week.

Mr MacAskill will meet the campaigners in his role as Edinburgh Eastern MSP but he will be pressed over his stance on the independent probe by parents who are angry because they were told by staff there were no remains of their stillborn babies or babies who had survived only a few days.

Mr MacAskill told The Herald he believes a public inquiry may be needed. It is feared hundreds of babies' ashes were buried at the crematorium after parents were convinced by managers there would be nothing left to scatter after the cremation of their children.

The bereavement charity Sands is to hold a second public meeting tomorrow as it raisess the pressure for an inquiry. It will co-ordinate marches and other protests in the coming weeks.

More parents are expected to come forward as awareness is raised over the scandal, which could date back to the 1960s when the facility opened.

Dorothy Maitland, of Sands, is demanding answers over her daughter Kaelen, who died at nine days old.

She said: "It has been a very difficult time for all of the parents. I found out that my daughter's heart had been kept for 13 years and used for teaching purposes. We had only just got our heads round that to find out 26 years after her death there had been ashes when we were told there weren't. It is cruel. All these years I have had nowhere to lay flowers."

The online petition, which has more than 3160 signatures, invites comments and one bereaved mother, Ros Lowrie of East Linton, East Lothian, writes simply: "Where is my baby?"

Helen Henderson, 43, from Sighthill, Edinburgh, whose son Nathan died when he was just one day old in August 2004, was quoted as saying: "We were told by the undertaker we would receive his ashes, but when we went to collect them a lady at the crematorium told us we had been misinformed and that there was nothing for us to collect."

Mr MacAskill, who will meet parents at the Scottish Parliament on Friday, said: "A public inquiry may be appropriate but would be later and for others to decide."

The public meeting will be held tomorrow at Craiglockhart Sports Centre in Edinburgh at 7.30pm.