The bosses of a funeral directors in Hampshire left a man's body to decompose for over a month in a mortuary room with water leaking down the walls, a jury has been told.
Shocking Discovery by Bailiffs
Portsmouth Crown Court heard that the bodies of two elderly men were discovered by high court enforcement agents who were repossessing the premises of Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport due to unpaid rent and debts.
Prosecutor Lesley Bates KC told the jury the agents immediately felt concern about the conditions. Water was entering through a leak in the mortuary room roof and running down the walls. The room was not refrigerated, with temperatures no different from the rest of the building.
Decomposition and Broken Promises
The court was informed that one of the bodies was that of 87-year-old William Mitchell, which showed clear signs of decomposition. His remains had allegedly been in the unsuitable mortuary for 36 days.
Despite Mitchell having taken out a funeral plan and the defendants, Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, having been paid £2,040 for his cremation, they had failed to carry out the service. They had not even ordered a coffin for him.
Bates stated that Mitchell's family were "incredulous" when police informed them his body had not been cremated. She emphasised that during his life, William Mitchell himself had put in place arrangements to ensure his funeral would be handled correctly.
A Business in Financial Trouble
The prosecutor revealed that the funeral directors had been insolvent almost since it began operating in 2019. The company owed £13,440 in rent arrears and a further £8,567 for electricity.
Elkin and Bell deny the charges against them, which include:
- Preventing the lawful burial of a dead body
- Causing a public nuisance
- Carrying on a business fraudulently
Elkin also faces additional charges of forgery relating to a certificate that supposedly came from the National Association of Funeral Directors, and using a false instrument.
The trial continues.
