A WOMAN'S traumatic seven-week battle to secure arrangements for her brother's funeral appears to be over, thanks to the intervention of The Northern Echo.

Robert Banks has been lying in a South African mortuary since he died, aged 65, from a suspected heart attack in South Africa, on March 10.

But international red tape had prevented his only surviving relative, Lucy Dawson, who lives in Newton Aycliffe, in County Durham, from laying him to rest.

Mrs Dawson, who has acute emphysema, was even prepared to defy medical advice and risk her own life to fly to South Africa to sort out the arrangements personally.

Mr Banks, who used to live in Ferryhill, emigrated to South Africa 35 years ago, but remained a British citizen.

Following his death, family friend Doreen Henderson agreed to take care of the funeral arrangements on Mrs Dawson's behalf.

Mrs Dawson, 59, sent a letter authorising Mrs Henderson to act on her behalf, believing that would be sufficient, but the cremation still did not take place.

Anthony Brown, from the British High Commission in Pretoria, said Mrs Dawson had to sign an official consent form before the undertaker would be satisfied.

He said he had forwarded it to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, who would then send it to Mrs Dawson for her to sign and return, but it would take several days for the process to be complete.

Mr Brown said: "I'm not sure why it's taken so long for the funeral services to get this form for Mrs Dawson to fill out, but the South African authorities here aren't exactly the quickest."

After The Northern Echo intervened, Mrs Dawson received several calls from the Foreign Office, who said they were trying to resolve the situation.

She found out from Mrs Henderson that the undertakers were now prepared to accept her letter as proper authorisation and were expecting to carry out the cremation this morning.

A relieved Mrs Dawson, who still intends to return the consent form, said: "It's been a big, long fight. There was nothing happening before and it seems everyone has jumped and everything has fallen into place after The Northern Echo got involved.