Woman accidentally sells her husband's previous wife's ashes

A woman in New York is in a spot of bother with her husband after accidentally selling the ashes of his first wife for 58 cents at a garage sale.

Anita Lewis sold the ceramic turtle jar containing the ashes of Terrence Lewis's first wife to a woman who planned to use it as a cookie jar.

Mrs Lewis held the sale at the weekend while her husband was asleep in the house.

The large turtle container was quickly snapped up, despite the buyer not being able to get the lid off.

"We have lots of turtles," she said. "It didn't even register that this was the one (containing the ashes)."

The couple hoped the woman would discover the ashes and return them.