A woman took her dead partner's ashes to court after bureaucrats refused to accept he was dead and summonsed him for non-payment of council tax. Denise Moon, 43, told Stockton Borough Council her partner Stuart McMillan, 42, had died last April, even sending his death certificate.
Despite that, bills kept being sent and finally the court summons, leading Mrs Moon to her desperate measure.
The council apologised and said it was reviewing its procedures.
Mr McMillan, who was a roadie and helped set up equipment at music gigs, died days after hitting his head in a fall in April 2005. Mrs Moon, of Cowper Road, Stockton, repeatedly told the council her partner had died and forwarded copies of his death certificate to several departments.
But bills continued to be sent out and it culminated in a summons being issued against Mr McMillan saying he owed £805 in unpaid council tax. Mrs Moon went to Teesside Magistrates' Court with an urn with his ashes in. When she was asked by a court usher where Mr McMillan was, she nodded at the urn.
Council officers who were there for the hearing told her she need not go into the courtroom.
Council head of taxation and administration Debbie Hurwood said: "We are very sorry to have caused this distress to Mrs Moon. We do have procedures in place to deal with situations where we become aware of the death of a relative. We will be liaising with Mrs Moon and our colleagues to identify what went wrong on this occasion and review our procedures to reduce the chance of this happening again."
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