The body of a Muslim woman was desecrated in a hospital morgue by someone who covered her with strips of bacon, police said Thursday.

Detectives said they were offering the equivalent of about $15,000 reward for information on the attack at west London's Hillingdon Hospital in January.

"This is a particularly grotesque act which has outraged the family as well as the whole community," said Detective Chief Inspector Tony Hester of the Hillingdon police force. The woman's name has not been released.

Hester said a race crimes task force had helped with the investigation, which is still underway.

"This was done to cause maximum upset. This was not only a Muslim but a human being. The desecration of any body will be condemned by everyone, there is not a sane person who would not be offended by this," Sarah Joseph, a spokeswoman for the Muslim Council of Britain.

"It has not come to light yet if this was the act of an Islamaphobe but there has been a rise in such attacks, such as desecration of graveyards. It is quite scary and a bit like 1930s Germany."

The 65-year-old woman's daughter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC the entire family had been shaken by the desecration. Islam forbids its followers from eating or touching any pork products, which it considers impure.

"I thought someone who did this hated Muslims especially," she said. "I don't know why they chose my mum. In life you expect a lot of things, but something so shocking, you couldn't even think it up in the worst horror movie."