Coffin mix-up pair to appeal

11:12am Wednesday 21st May 2008

TWO funeral parlour managers from York who "caused unimaginable grief" to two families when they hid the body of a dead baby in an elderly woman's coffin will bid to get their sentences cut in July.

Mark Eshelby and Graeme Skidmore, both in their 40s and former colleagues at Co-operative Funeral Services in York, were both sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at York Crown Court last June after admitting conspiring to prevent a proper burial.

The pair, who buried the coffin of baby Benjamin Judson, of Holgate, York, empty and then cremated his body alongside that of 85-year-old Evelyn Sayner, of Heworth, York, in a bid to cover up their error, were both also fined £5,000 each.

Their barristers argued earlier this year at the Appeal Court in London that the sentences were too harsh, saying they had lost their jobs as a result of their crimes, and would have to sell or remortgage their homes in order to pay the fines imposed on them.

Eshelby, of Holgate, York, and Skidmore, of Leslie Way, Dunbar, Scotland, were granted permission to appeal against their sentences.

The case was adjourned for further reports and information to be gathered on the men's current financial situation.

Sources at the Royal Courts of Justice today revealed that their challenge is due to be heard on July 2.

News of the appeal comes after it emerged that The Press's exclusive story on the empty coffin scandal had been shortlisted for the Scoop of the Year award in this year's Regional Press Awards, organised by the Press Gazette, the newspaper industry bible.

It is the second time the newspaper's coverage has secured national praise, with the Newspaper Society awarding it the bronze award in the Scoop Of The Year category at its awards ceremony last month.

Baby Benjamin lived for just 20 minutes after he was born at York Hospital on December 18, 1998. His death certificate listed his cause of death as "extreme prematurity".

Evelyn Sayner died on December 22, 1998, of kidney failure and gastroentiritis in York Hospital.

Eshelby and Skidmore panicked when they realised they had sent off Benjamin's funeral procession without putting his body in the coffin. In a desperate bid to cover up their mistake, the pair hid the premature baby's remains in the same coffin as Evelyn Sayner, and the bodies of both baby Benjamin and Mrs Sayner were incinerated on New Year's Eve, 1998.

As a result, for more than nine years, Benjamin's mum and dad, David and Paula, unknowingly visited an empty grave.

The attempted cover up of their "ghastly mistake" came to light when City of York Council launched an investigation into allegations of malpractice at York Crematorium in February 2006 and a junior employee who had witnessed what had happened spilled the beans.

When sentencing the pair, Judge Paul Hoffman said last year: "Both of you caused unimaginable grief to the families of Benjamin Judson and Evelyn Sayner. If they had not enough grief, you piled more on."

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