A 15-month investigation has found that 105 people affected by birth defects, and not involved in the original case, have now shared concerns linked to Corby’s long-running toxic waste scandal. Families say the fears are not fading with time, and for some the questions reach back to children born decades apart.
Tracey Taylor, whose daughter Shelby-Anne died in 1996 when she was four days old from heart, lung, kidney and ear defects, said it was heartbreaking to hear how many families had come forward. “I always knew that there were more families affected than those in the original case, but to actually be at 105 with limb differences and angel babies, it’s heartbreaking,” she said. Taylor is now collecting and collating questionnaires from families with babies born with defects or babies who did not survive because of organ defects.
The scale of the concerns gives fresh weight to a scandal that first emerged nearly 20 years ago and has never fully stopped troubling families in Corby. In 2009, Corby Borough Council was found to have negligently moved toxic waste from the town’s former steelworks, and a High Court case later ruled that that negligence had caused birth defects in 18 children. The council has only ever admitted dumping the waste at Deene Quarry, a former landfill site on the outskirts of Corby that was later developed into Rockingham Speedway, which shut in 2018.
Among the families now speaking out is Issy Wright, who said she lives with visible and lasting physical differences. “I have three fingers on each hand, and my arms don’t straighten properly. They’re also slightly shorter than they should be. I’ve got a curvature in my spine and a small heart murmur as well. I’ve grown up very physically different to other people,” she said. She added: “It’s affected me a lot mentally and physically and yes, continues to, it never goes away.”
The evidence gathered by the investigation also points to continuing unease around Deene Quarry itself. ITV News reported 19 incidents related to contaminated water and unidentified pollution around the site in the last decade, adding to families’ belief that historical waste remains part of the present-day picture. The council has said nothing beyond its admission that waste was dumped at Deene Quarry, and that limited acknowledgement has left the wider questions unresolved for many people living with the consequences.
Pippa, another parent speaking about her family’s experience, said doctors had tried to rule out other explanations. “The general questions were, did you live near toxic waste or were you related to her father. The answer to both of those was no… The toxic waste just seems to be the plausible explanation really because we don’t have any history of this in the family. We’ve had so much genetic testing through the NHS that just hasn’t ever come up with any conclusion of what caused it,” she said. That is why the new figures matter now: they suggest the Corby scandal is not a closed chapter, but a live and growing concern for families still trying to explain what happened to their children.
