Funerals delayed

SIR – The High Court (report, April 28) has overturned the policy of Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London, that no death will be prioritised in any way over any other because of the dead person’s religion or that of their family.

Rabbi Asher Gratt said that “this legal victory will bring immense relief for grieving families to bury their loved ones with respect and dignity, preventing further unnecessary anguish at the darkest moment of their lives”.

This should apply to every family. My husband died on December 3 2017 in tragic circumstances and in intensive care. We were desperate to have his body released, particularly before Christmas, so that he would be back in the loving arms of his family and not left on his own in a cold mortuary during this important date in the Christian calendar.

We were just able to achieve this on December 22, but this might not have been the case if we had lived in a multicultural area where people of other religions were given priority over us. Our suffering would have been cruelly and needlessly intensified, and I expect situations like ours were what prompted the initial decision of Mary Hassell. Anne Griffin

Bournemouth, Dorset