THE daughter of Salford broadcaster Alistair Cooke has come face to face with a man accused of hacking up her father's corpse in a multi-million pound body-snatching ring.

Susan Cooke Kittredge said she did not give her permission for her father's body parts to be taken and told the court her father, the long-running host of the BBC's Letter from America, "would have been against it".

Ms Kittredge, 59, gave evidence in the trial of Christopher Aldorasi, 34, an accused body cutter, who denies body stealing, grand larceny, forgery and enterprise corruption at Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Asked if she had given her permission for her father's body parts to be taken, Ms Kittredge said: "Definitely not. My father would have been against that."

Records showed a daughter named Susan Quint approved of the donation, but Mr Cooke had only one daughter and Ms Kittredge, who lives in Vermont, told the court there were inaccuracies in doctored medical records.

She added that she had never spoken to Aldorasi or Michael Mastromarino, the scheme's ringleader who pleaded guilty earlier this month following a deal with US prosecutors.

The court heard Aldorasi called Mastromarino the day he cut open Mr Cooke to say they were about to work on someone "well-known".

Mastromarino told him to continue and it is not clear what happened to the broadcaster's bones, the court heard.

Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei, who is sitting without a jury, has heard that Aldorasi was one of a group of men who hacked up hundreds of corpses, including that of Mr Cooke.

After the broadcaster died aged 95 in 2004, the ring allegedly forged consent forms, stole his bones and sold them on for 11,000 dollars (£5,500).