The body of an elderly woman is to be exhumed from a Devon cemetery at the request of her husband.
Marie Harris, who lies in Sidmouth cemetery following her death in September 2004, will be reburied in Thame in Oxfordshire, more than 170 miles away, where her husband Leonard, 84, plans to live to be closer to his family.
The decision to permit the exhumation was made yesterday and was described as "exceptional" by Sir Andrew McFarlane, the chancellor of the Exeter diocese and judge of the Consistory Court, which gave the ruling on the matter.
Mr Harris, from Turner Court, in All Saints Road, Sidmouth, had applied for the exhumation, a date for which has not been set, so he could continue visiting her grave on a daily basis when he moved to Oxfordshire.
It was permitted by the court because Mr Harris had been mistakenly told by funeral directors it would be possible for the body to be reburied from consecrated ground.
Normally, Consistory Court judges rule that the dead should rest in peace and cannot be moved from consecrated ground but, in this case the judge ruled that it would be permitted as Mr Harris had been misled.
No comments:
Post a Comment