A mother believed she had cremated her missing son - only for him to turn up alive 24 hours later.
Gina Partington, 58, from Urmston, Manchester, had mistakenly identified a dead man as her son, and spent almost an hour saying a tearful goodbye before his cremation on Tuesday.
Police called the next day to say they had found her 39-year-old son, Thomas Dennison, in Nottingham.
Greater Manchester Police have voluntarily referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
They now believe they know the name of the man who died on October 12 near Upper Brook Street in Rusholme, Manchester.
The 37-year-old from Manchester had been living rough. Police are trying to trace his father, who lives in Ireland.
The body was initially identified as Thomas Dennison by a care worker who had worked with him for the past six months.
His mother then went to the chapel of rest at Manchester Royal Infirmary to confirm that the body was that of her son.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "These set of circumstances are clearly distressing and urgent inquiries are ongoing to establish how this happened."
