A GRIEVING pensioner says he is leaving his wife's body in the hospital morgue because he can't afford a funeral.
Harry Clarke says even the small amount needed for a pauper's burial would leave him too poor to eat, so wife Kathleen will remain in the mortuary.
He said: "It's a choice between eating or having the funeral - and I have to eat."
The devoted 75-year-old, who cared for Kathleen for years as she suffered from cancer, will hold a wake at a pub in Edgeley, Stockport - but there will be no service beforehand.
His wife died on May 5 and her body is at the Stepping Hill morgue.
Harry, of Neston Grove, Adswood, Stockport, said: "We can't get her laid to rest so she will have to lie there and we will carry on with the festivities. I wash my hands of it.
"The funeral directors are trying to get £1,600 out of me and I don't have 1,600p - I haven't got any money at all.
Infirm
"I'm old and infirm myself, and I have to pay a carer."
Harry met his wife when he was working as a showbiz promoter in the late 1960s. Kathleen rang him up looking for work as a singer.
"We fell in love over the phone and when I first saw her, I was literally left breathless," he said.
"From that day on we were together. Everybody used to say she was like Julie Andrews. I knew every move she would make and she knew every move I would make. This is what she would have wanted.
"The same thing can happen to me. In fact, we won't even bother with funeral directors when I go - I am just going to tell my son to throw me in the river at Bramhall."
Harry went to a private funeral director and was quoted £2,000 for Kathleen's funeral.
He says he then went to social services and was told he could have a free funeral - only to be later told it would actually cost £1,600.
A council spokesman said social services had simply been a point of contact between Mr Clarke and the hospital's bereavement services.
He said: "We appreciate this a very difficult and emotional time for the family. We will continue to work closely with the family."
Stockport Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital's bereavement services, was unavailable for comment.
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It is my understanding that the Local Authority has a duty to pay for and organise a funeral where there are no other financial means available. In this case, I think that there is more than meets the eye in this case. For example Mr Clarke isn't helping himself by stating he will hold "festivities" at a pub in Edgeley. Perhaps the authorities are aking that if Mr Clarke can spend money in the pub then he can contribute to the cost of a funeral for his wife.
Maybe he should think about donating her body to science.I believe its free and they pay for a funeral later.
Very sad, and at a time when we learn about MPs extravagance...
Unbelievable. How much does it cost to keep her in the morgue? A bit of common sense needed here between social services, the NHS and a sympathetic undertaker. I'm sure a cost agreeable could be reached and provided by social services. If not, MEN, set up a fund account, I'll donate 20 quid.
This is disgraceful.
Who's paying for the wake then?
Its nice to see that he can afford a wake in a local pub though!
Put in a claim for Bereavement Benefit, I believe it's quite a substatial amount if you qualify for it. I'm sure social services will advise how to claim
What a beautiful woman she was. I hope this situation is sorted out, for dignity's sake.
Guten Tag What a great idea. I'll bet he never thought of that.
Mmmmmmm how can you afford the pub then ~ sorry but if it was me I'd be foregoing the pub and saving that money towards a funeral and I am sure true friends would feel the same way forego the pub and save the money?
I think the difference between having a couple of pints at your wife's wake and a £1,600 funeral bill are quite clear for those who believe he should forgo saying goodbye with family and friends and save the £4.50 towards costs. I don't even know the couple, but I'd buy him a round. Like I said, common sense should kick in here, his wife is dead, and in death there should be dignity. Hard faced social services I bet. I'm sick to the back teeth of how our pensioners are treated when the inevitable approaches. Some 3rd world countries treat their dead like royalty, and here we are, the UK, a 'developed nation', and we have MPs claiming eight grand for a TV, and a woman in a morgue left until some bureaucrat decides who should cough up.
If I was in Mr Clarke's shoes, I'd leave his wife were she is out of principle. What are they going to do, dump her body outside his house? Honestly, what happened to the 'Great' in Great Britain?
We as a country can afford books for the third world but we cannot find money to help our elders bury their loved ones?
Guten Tag, Manchester asked, rather cheekily "what happened to the 'Great' in Great Britain?"
The answers are manifold. One is that the 'great' was overwhelmed by people who decided and were encouraged to not bother looking after themselves but to expect the state to pay for them. Here is an example I think.
I think its a disgrace that a pensioner who has no money should have to leave his dead wife in the morge due a lack of money. The sate should pay for it in these types of cases the guy and his wife have paid into the system probably all their working lifes and now when he needs some help the state gives he's dignaty a swift kick where it hurts.A DISGRACE !!!!
and if what i have read so far is right the comment from other users implying that he should have not payed out for a wake and put it towards fueneral costs when the average room hire in a pub is what £200-300 maybe even if he did that he still couldnt pay for the feuneral . those of you who have suggested that should hang your heads in shame as you lot would have the guy who has just lost hes wife then go and beg for contributions off family and friends to meet the fueneral cost can you imagine how imbarassing that would be for him.
for those who didn't imply that sorry for the rant.
this is what alot of us out there have to look forward to. no money when we're older!
the pension system has about 20 years left and then it'll be scrapped. then what will we do for money!
my advice is start saving now! but not in pensions!
Quote:
"It's a choice between eating or having the funeral - and I have to eat."
As a widower he will get a minimum of £130 a week Pension Credit. There is no need to starve and £30 a week will see his beloved wife laid to rest.
The Very Cheeky Monkey, in the trees - Mr Clarke is 75. What's to say when he turned 65 he had his retirement mapped out, then we've had 10 years of stealth taxes plus increased this, that and the other, so his retirement money has dwindled to nothing? Or maybe, you are correct, and he's always expected for the state to cough up. I don't know, but I my only concern is, there is no dignity in this country, even in death.
As another after thought, maybe Mr Clarke should go and collect his wife from the morgue and wheel her to the local social services office and ask for help. Then I suspect, he'll leave the office cash in hand and Mrs Clarke can finally rest in peace.
I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure the state will contribute £1000 towards the cost of a funeral so he should go to his local benefits office to see what assistance they can offer.
To be fair though, the state (taxpayer) cannot pay for the funerals of everyone who says they can't afford it. This man and his wife worked when they were younger and it would have been sensible to put a few pounds away each month in an insurance policy for their funerals. My parents and grandparents did it and it can be done today for as little as £10 per month, if not less. People really need to do this so they do not burden their families for the costs or in the worse case scenario, leaving the dead in a morgue. I'm sure this lady deserves more respect than this.
I think we put too much emphasis on the body in this country. It is, after all, simply a shell. The lady doesn't need to be buried to "rest in peace" - she's gone, her soul has left her body, elvis has left the building. The main point of a funeral is the wake, he's having one, which is at his local pub.
When I die, I don't care what happens to my "shell". I'll have left it, so they canburn me in the hospital incinerator for all I care.
The festivities will probably only come to about £10 if that it is only a remembrance and usually sandwiches stop being mean.
Pity he is not an MP he could claim the cost on his expenses. RIP Mrs Clarke
have a big send off for your wife,and when you get the bill, say your skint and offer them a pound a week,
The State (tax payer) pays for birthing expenses, scans doctors, midwives, home visitors maternity and paternity pay. So why not offer a no frills cremation on the state? I'd have one.
when my time comes i will tell my daughter that she must not pay the extortionate price of a funeral for me,as we all knoe nobody is left on top! so if its to be a paupers grave for me, then so be it. i wont be too bothered so i hope my daughter wont be too.