Couple whose son opposed their burial for 15 years are laid to rest

A couple whose bodies were held in a mortuary for 15 years after being discovered in a freezer in a former fishmonger’s shop have finally been buried.

Eugenios and Hilda Marcel were embalmed after they died in Edinburgh in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their son, Melvyn Marcel, had opposed their burial and wanted to build a mausoleum in the grounds of his property.

However,edinburghcouncil won a legal battle to arrange their funeral. The couple were buried in a ceremony at Craigmillar Castle Park Cemetery yesterday. Hilda Marcel died in 1987 from lung failure, and her husband Eugenios died in 1994 from cancer.

The couple’s bodies were discovered in the basement of a former fishmonger’s shop in the city’s Gilmore Place in 2002, 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. Four employees were sacked, although none of those alleged to have been involved in the fraud were charged or prosecuted for any offence.

Following the discovery, Mr and Mrs Marcel’s remains were taken to the city’s Cowgate mortuary.

Their son said he wanted to build a fridge at his Edinburgh home, then build a private mausoleum in the grounds of his property. He planned to eventually take his parents’ bodies to be buried in the West Bank.

However, a judge ruled earlier this year that Edinburgh City Council had the legal authority to bury their bodies.

Mr Marcel appealed against that decision, but it was upheld by appeal court judges.