“I got my wife’s ashes a month before she was cremated”

A man claims he was told they were his wife’s ashes, only to discover she wasn’t cremated until more than a month later.

Grandfather Peter Welburn hired an independent funeral director in Hull after his wife Shirley died in late 2023.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Welburn claimed he received the ashes on December 23, but was told this week that his wife was not cremated until January 16.

A traditional independent funeral director is the focus of a police investigation following a “concern for the care of the deceased”.

A 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful and dignified burial, fraud by false representation and fraud by abuse of position and remain on bail.