ELEVEN years to the day after his funeral, Christopher Rochester was re-buried yesterday after his body was exhumed for DNA samples.
A private ceremony was conducted at the side of his grave in Ropery Lane Cemetery, Chester-le-Street, by his stepfather, George Cummings.
A dozen mourners, including Christopher’s mother, Pam Cummings, his sister, Liz, brother Keith, girlfriend Maggie Jones and cousin Blaise Pearey placed roses on the casket that now encloses his original coffin.
Liz, 18, read out what she had written about her brother at the time of his death, when she was only seven, and some of Christopher’s favourite songs were played.
Despite the emotion of the occasion, there was laughter over an anecdote that 52-yearold Mr Cummings included in a poem about his stepson.
Also present was Detective Superintendent Steve Murray, of Durham Police, who provided scenes of crime officers for the exhumation in the early hours of Monday.
Christopher died in 2000, aged 24, in a hospital on the island of Rhodes after he fell from a balcony.
His body was exhumed at the request of the Greek authorities as part on a lengthy wrangle about a missing kidney.
His body was returned to England minus a kidney, but an organ sent later was found, through a DNA test, to be someone else’s, although the Greeks refused to accept that.
After yesterday’s ceremony, Mr Cummings said his wife had been inconsolable.
But he said the family were determined to get justice.
He said: “Chris has returned personally to give the DNA evidence we need and put the final piece of the jigsaw in place.
“When the results come back, we want the Greek authorities to take immediate action against the three doctors who illegally removed Chris’ kidney.”
Mr Cummings said the Greeks were paying for the test, in a Brussels laboratory, but it was not known when the results would be available.
“The DNA evidence we already had before this was adequate for any other country in the world, apart from Greece,” he said.
“Seemingly, DNA from Christopher’s own mother isn’t enough to prove that Christopher was Christopher, for whatever reason.”
Det Supt Murray said the exhumation process had gone to plan.
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