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Tag: Crime

Sometimes remembrance crosses paths with the law in unexpected ways. This tag gathers crime- and justice-related stories involving ashes and memorials: thefts of urns or jewellery, vandalism in cemeteries and gardens, frauds targeting bereaved families, and the hard cases where police handle...

Mortonhall Crematorium – Tough Talking their way back into the people’s hearts?

Mortonhall Crematorium Mortonhall crematorium in Edinburgh has had more than its fair share on controversy. In 2013 it was the centre of the baby ashes scandal. They had been disposing of premature baby ashes and telling parents there weren’t any ashes to collect. This caused a huge furore and quite rightly so! (see our previous […]

Exhumation of Ashes, Rounders & Drug Dealing – Strange Story

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If you have buried ashes and you want to move them it can be difficult if not impossible, particularly if they the ground they are buried in has on blessed (consecrated ground). In which case it is up to the Church of England’s court to decide whether they can be removed. And they don’t like […]

Ian Brady’s ashes – can they be scattered on Saddleworth Moor?

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Ian Brady’s ashes Ian Brady, one of Britain’s most infamous serial killers died this week. One might expect that to be the end the matter. Not so, there has been a great furore over what should happen to his ashes. The corner in Sefton, a Mr Christopher Sumner, said that they will not release the […]

Drug smuggling gang use scattering ashes ceremony in attempt to outwit police

Well I suppose scattering the ashes of a ‘bro’ is one excuse to give the Boys in Blue as a reason for being on New Zealand’s iconic 90 Mile Beach in suspicious circumstances. However the truth of the matter was the bad guys got busted attempt to smuggle in an eye watering ½ Tonne of […]

Grave robbing ashes in China – thieves demand a ransom!

After writing over 500 articles on the subject you would think the subject would yield little in the way of surprises, not true. Here is a new issue that I had not come across or to be honest even considered. In the Chinese city of Xinyang there has been a case of grave robbers removing ashes […]

Digging up and stealing your father

Family Dispute Over Father’s Ashes Dug Up From Garden A family from Berwick on the Scottish Borders are in dispute, the culmination of which lead to one of the sibling digging up his father ashes from his mother’s garden and refusing to return them. The remains of Mr Joseph Pringle were buried under a rose […]

Site in the Welsh Valleys used for scattering ashes has been vandalised

Welsh Valleys Ashes Scattering Site Vandalised The well-known White Cross of Trealaw has been vandalised. The cross in the heart of the Rhondda valleys has been partially dismantled by a group of mystery climbers. The cross was built by Glyn Thomas, of Trealaw, in 2005 as a final resting place for those who wanted their […]

Cross-dressing thief steals ashes

Cross-Dressing Thief Steals Ashes in Washington State I often wonder whether the world is becoming stranger or that weird things always happened but now communication is much better so we see more of them. In this case we have a fairly well reported occurrence: the theft of ashes. Readers unacquainted with the blog may not know […]

Couple steal their own son’s ashes

Parents charged after removing their son’s cremated remains from burial This is a bit different and comes from Bridgeport in Connecticut in the US. The couple in question tragically lost their son, when they came to collect their sons ashes and pay the remainder of the funeral directors fees. However when left unattended, they took […]

Facebook to the rescue again!

Man’s appeal after stolen van results in return of his mother’s ashes Two positive stories about Facebook in one week! Fingers crossed I will be on the payroll soon. This is the story of a man who had his mother ashes returned to him after a Facebook appeal. A thief stole his van in […]

Edinburgh crematorium’s policy on infant ashes sparks outrage

Mortonhall Ashes Scandal

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Edinburgh crematorium’s policy on infant ashes sparks outrage The Edinburgh crematoria at Mortonhall is at the centre of a scandal. Prior to 2007 it was their policy not to return the ashes of stillborn children and very small infants (antenatal or neonatal babies). The basis for this, it would appear, was a blanket policy to […]

Crematorium worker under investigation over theft of gold from human ashes

Police investigate alleged misuse of recovered metals after cremation An employee at the Moray crematorium, in the Grampian region of Scotland has been suspended while the police investigate the alleged theft of precious metals. Non ferrous metals (gold and silver etc) which are derived from dental work and jewellery are extracted by a machine after […]

Cremation urn thief avoids custodial sentence

A thief, in Cincinnati (USA), who stole 15 cremation urns and sold them for the scrap value, has avoided a prison sentence. Law makers in the State of Ohio have been trying to reduce the prison population and have required that alternative punitive sentences be sought instead. So in addition to the miscreant getting five […]

Cremation Memorial Plaques Scam – Man Jailed

Criminal Sentenced for Fraud Involving Memorial Plaques and Ashes Sites A thief has been given a six month prison sentence for selling brass memorial plaque for scrap metal. Nathan Hallsworth, twenty-six, admitted handling stolen goods but said he had not known what they were – yeah right! The court was told the significant distress caused […]