Three years af ter soldier’s death, family still at war over burial site
THE mother and widow of a Black Watch soldier wept in court yesterday as their bitter battle over where he should be buried rages on three years after his death.
Private Mark Connolly, 24, died after fellow squaddie Paul McKay, 27, knocked him down with a single punch at a pub in Germany where they were stationed.
Private McKay was later cleared of manslaughter after a court martial heard he acted in self-defence.
But three years on, Pte Connolly’s body remains in a morgue in London after a rift between his wife, Stacy, and his mother, Linda McComiskie.
Mrs Connolly, 29, wants to lay her husband of two years to rest in her home town of Forfar, Angus, following a ‘colourful’ service to celebrate his life.
But his mother – the executor of his will – wants him 40 miles away i n the f amily plot at Macduff Cemetery i n East Wemyss, Fife.
At Forfar Sheriff Court yesterday, Miss McComiskie claimed her daughter-in-law was ‘jealous’ of her ‘close’ relationship with her son.
The 50-year-old said that when Pte Connolly had been injured during a tour of Afghanistan, his wife had not informed them – and that her family had tried to ‘dictate’ funeral arrangements when he died.
She claimed her son had told his grandmother he wanted to be buried beside his grandfather in Fife.
But his widow said the soldier wanted to be buried alongside her when she eventually passes away and that she will be laid to rest in Forfar.
His mother said: ‘It was a couple of weeks after Mark passed away and they – Stacy’s family – were arranging his funeral. We knew nothing about it.
‘Stacy’s family arranged the funeral to take place in Forfar. They said wear bright clothes and not to wear black. He was to be buried in Forfar.
‘He said he hated the place. I couldn’t understand why he would want to be buried there. It wasn’t what Mark wanted. He wanted to be buried beside his grandfather.
‘Stacy turned to me and said he had changed his mind. I wasn’t happy with Stacy’s mum dictating to us about what to wear. You don’t tell the mother of the deceased what to wear at the funeral.’
The court heard the soldier had originally named his wife as his executor and beneficiary in his will.
However, one of his commanding officers mistakenly told him he could not do this and the will was ripped up.
His mother and older brother Paul were named instead as being responsible for funeral
‘It wasn’t what Mark wanted’
arrangements. But Pte Connolly never specified where he wanted to be buried.
His mother claims that at his wedding in February 2009 he made it clear he wanted to be laid to rest alongside his late grandfather in the family plot at Wemyss.
She said: ‘ With Mark naming me as executor I knew full well he wanted to be buried with his grandfather.
‘He had mentioned it to his gran that if anything ever happened to him he wanted to be buried with his grandfather.’
But his wife claims that her late husband told her sometime after the wedding that he wanted mourners in colourful clothes to celebrate his life, and that he wanted to be buried wherever she would be.
Miss McComiskie said she and Mrs Connolly – who wiped away tears as the evidence was led – eventually met t o discuss arrangements, telling the court: ‘She was crying and begging me – I did feel bad but I said it wasn’t what Mark wanted.
‘I said they can have a service in Forfar but he has to come back to Fife to be buried with his grandfather. All his family are there – he doesn’t have a family in Forfar.’
Asked if she had considered the widow’s views on the funeral in her role as executor, she said: ‘I did think about it, yes. But she never bothered about us or thought about us.’
Susie Clark, representing Mrs Connolly, accused Mi s s McComiskie of ‘thinking about herself and not Mark’s wife’.
She said: ‘This is all about you, not Mark. It’s all about the war you waged on social networking with her family.’
Miss McComiskie replied: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’
Later, the soldier’s grandmother, Georgina McComiskie, 68, said: ‘Mark came over to me at my husband’s funeral and he said “when I go I want to be put next to my grandad”. I told him “don’t be daft – you have a lot of years ahead of you”.’
Sheriff Valerie Johnston will receive written submissions from l awyers for both sides later this month before making her decision.