a Granny Smith

Funeral director Roger Barker stored ashes from cremations in a bucket in his shed and then passed them off as the remains of the victim of a motorbike accident.

In fact Barker had failed to collect the deceased's ashes in time for the scattering, which was witnessed by his grieving parents. Instead he used those he had kept in the shed at the bottom of his garden, Oxford Crown Court was told.




During his trial, staff from his company, based in Didcot, England, told the jury that their boss often ordered them to do "a Granny Smith", which meant filling an urn with left-over remains from the garden shed if nobody had got around to collecting the right ashes. Personally I would have no problem having my ashes thrown into Roger Barker's bucket. A chance to mix with new people. A chance to get to new places - the ashes from my feet to one place and those from my skull to another. But I'm a nihilist with a very sick sense of humour.