Man loses appeal to stop burial of parents
The son of a couple whose bodies have spent almost 15 years in a mortuary has lost a legal bid to stop a Scots council arranging their funerals.
Melvyn Marcel urged appeal judges at the Court of Session to stop Edinburgh City Council disposing of the remains of his late mother, Hilda, and father Eugenios.
Mr Marcel was appealing against a decision made by Lord Mulholland at the court earlier this year. Councillors had gained
permission from the judge to arrange a burial for the couple, whose bodies were discovered in a former fishmonger’s shop in 2002.
The council argued that they had a statutory duty to dispose of the bodies.
On Friday, Mr Marcel – who wants to build a fridge in his home as a resting place for the bodies until he builds a mausoleum in the property – told the court that Lord Mulholland’s decision was wrong.
Mr Marcel – who plans to take his parents’ bodies to be buried in the West Bank in Gaza in the Middle East – told the court that he believed his position was correct. He told judges Lord Carloway, Lord Brodie and Lady Clark of Calton: “I’m fighting for justice but nobody’s helping me.”
It is not the first time the Mar- cel family have been at the centre of public attention.
In 1984, Mrs Marcel lost a claim for damages against the Royal Bank of Scotland at a Scottish court.
The financial institution had mistakenly addressed a bank statement to her husband revealing to him that she had borrowed £6,000 to take a round the world trip with Melvyn.
Mr Marcel, who ran the Roxburgh Hotel in Dunbar, East Lothian, became so upset after reading the statement that he began to act “irrationally” and “chased guests out of the hotel”.
The couple have been kept at Edinburgh City Council’s Cowgate mortuary since police found them in the basement of a former fishmonger’s in Polwarth in 2002.
Mrs Marcel had died in 1987 from lung cancer whilst her husband passed away from prostrate cancer aged 91 in 1994. Their bodies were embalmed and a relative regularly visited them at the premises.
Police discovered Mr and Mrs Marcel’s bodies during an investigation into alleged fraud at a funeral home in West Lothian.
It was claimed that staff at the Broxburn undertakers had been paid to preserve the remains and four employees were sacked.
However, none of those who were allegedly involved in the fraud were charged or prosecuted for any offence.
Since then the Marcels have lain at Edinburgh City Council’s mortuary with officials unable to find them a more suitable resting place without the consent of the family.
The local authority was unable to do anything because the couple’s sons – Nigel and Melvyn – have not given coun- cil officials instructions on what should be done with regard to their parents.
So lawyers acting for the council went to the Court of Session in a bid to gain a legal order which would allow them to organise a burial or cremation for Mr and Mrs Marcel.
Lord Mulholland came to his decision partly because Mr Marcel did not appear on some of the dates scheduled for the action to take place.
Lord Mulholland said he would have granted permission to Edinburgh City Council to bury Mr and Mrs Marcel’s bodies if the action had been defended.