‘I did not steal my mum’s ashes’

Geoffrey Madeley told the YEP of the distress he had been put through after prosecutors finally dropped the case against him.

Car dealer Mr Madeley was arrested over an incident alleged to have happened on May 15 this year outside Dodgson’s Funeral Service in Middleton, Leeds.

Mr Madeley, 50, was accused of robbing his stepfather, David Flower, of an urn containing the ashes of his 72-year-old mother Eunice. Mr Madeley said his mum, who died on March 19, had expressed a dying wish to have her ashes scattered in Scarborough. The father-of-three said he arranged to meet his stepfather outside the funeral parlour where Mr Flower handed over the ashes.

Police later received a complaint that he had held Mr Flower to the ground and robbed him of the urn. Mr Madeley was interviewed and then charged with the offence. The Crown Prosecution Service has now taken the decision to discontinue the matter.

After the hearing at Leeds Crown Court, Mr Madeley said: “It has been an absolute nightmare.”

Mr Madeley said he did not get on with his stepfather and it had led to tensions about scattering the ashes. He said he made arrangements to collect the urn after weeks passed and they had still not been scattered.

He added: “My stepfather then complained to the police that I had held him down and taken the urn from him. But I have witnesses supporting my account of what happened.”