A husband rented a van, broke into a failing funeral parlour and stole his mother-in-law's body to take to a different undertaker - all without telling his wife.
A husband rented a van, broke into a failing funeral parlour and stole his mother-in-law's body to take to a different undertaker - all without telling his wife.
A husband rented a van, broke into a failing funeral parlour and stole his mother-in-law's body to take to a different undertaker - all without telling his wife.
The unnamed man had not been able to get in contact with the undertaker, where his recently deceased mother-in-law's body was beingkept for several days.
Desperate to give her a proper send-off, he decided to rescue his dead mother-in-law from Butterfly Funeral Services in Rochester, Kent.
The frantic husband said he asked traders to act as look-outs as he used a doorway down an alleyway to break into Butterfly Funeral Services.
He loaded the corpse onto a trolley in broad daylight and wheeled it into a van before returning to pick up clothing his wife had set aside to dress her mother's body for the funeral.
The doting husband, who has asked not to be named, then took the body to another funeral director in Rochester, who has confirmed the story.
His actions, which took place a year ago, were revealed today as bailiffs repossessing the parlour discovered 16 full urns which had not been given to relatives.
The man is said to have hired a van to move the body to another parlour. Photo / Google Maps
Karen Calder, who owned the parlour, has also been banned from using the services at several crematoriums because of unpaid bills.
The company ceased trading several weeks ago, leaving grieving relatives with unanswered questions.
Enforcement agent Robert Hamshare was so appalled on finding the urns he tracked Ms Calder down to her home.
Mr Hamshare, whose duty it is to remove goods from premises, has notified Medway Crematorium and given Ms Calder an ultimatum to return the ashes to their rightful owners.
Leading Medway funeral director John Weir, who has four branches across the Towns, said: 'The company involved were not subject to any regulatory inspection by either of the two professional organisations.
"Had they have been, then issues of poor practice, such have been highlighted would not have occurred."
Meanwhile, a handwritten note has been put in the shop window asking people to email if they want to collect the ashes, the MailOnline reported.
Ms Calder said she had closed the parlour "due to ill health".
She said: "I sincerely apologise if the families I have served have had difficulty in contacting me."
Butterfly is not registered with the National Board of Funeral Directors or the National Society of Allied Independent Funeral Directors, both of which monitor and regulate the profession.
Aside from burglary, it is not clear whether he committed any offences.
