TWO funeral chiefs have admitted they buried an empty child's coffin.
Graeme Skidmore, 44, of Leslie Way, Dunbar, and co-accused Mark Eshelby, 48, admitted conspiring to prevent the lawful burial of two dead bodies more than nine years ago.
More details are expected to come to light when the pair are sentenced at York Crown Court tomorrow.
Benjamin Judson was supposed to be buried at the Chapel of Rest in Cromwell Road, York, on New Year's Eve, 1998, But in reality the child was put in another coffin alongside the body of 85-year-old Evelyn Sayner and incinerated at York Crematorium in Bishopthorpe Road.
The child's parents were not aware of what had happened and continued to visit the grave for years afterwards.
It was only when York Crematorium and the Yorkshire Co-op became the subject of an investigation by York City Council that police became involved.
They exhumed the child's coffin to discover it was empty and the two men were eventually charged.
At York Crown Court today Skidmore and Eshelby, 47, of Londonderry, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, admitted to conspiring to prevent the burial of Evelyn Sayner and Benjamin Judson.
Both worked for the York Co-op, Eshelby was local funeral manager for the York area and Skidmore was area manager.
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