AIBU to question why taxpayers should fund Ian Huntley’s cremation?

Has this changed recently because that wasn’t my experience although it has been a few years? The ones I arranged for the council always had a basic ceremony too. We went out of our way to find relatives or find things out about people’s lives for the celebrant. It was sad if only professionals there or we didn’t know so much about them. One of them I went to had loads of people there and people playing music and stuff because it was someone very well known in the homeless community. I find it very sad indeed if we have now moved to undisclosed times and location scenario because most of the folk having these are not Ian Huntley.

The equivalent check at the time was a CRB check. Which was introduced after IH got the job. Plus they only checked with the local police and AFAIK his crimes were in a different area. That's why they brought in the national DBS service, so all crimes showed up. Not just national ones.

I agree that his mother or indeed any other female members of the Huntley family should not have to pay for a basic funeral, which lets face it is more than he deserves.

His brother, who chose to write a book about Huntley and his crimes and presumably benefited from the profits (it was a while ago but I don't remember seeing anything about them going to charity) might be a different matter though.

I worked in a psychiatric hospital many years ago ~ if a patient died and there was no family or personal funds to pay for the funeral, the patient was entitled to a state funded funeral (it was known as a Pauper's Funeral ~ I sincerely hope that name has changed!)

Honestly, it was the most basic funeral possible ~ the staff used to have a collection for flowers but the coffin was always the cheapest. It was always dignified, with the hospital chaplain taking the service and staff attending but it always seemed so sad to me

I can't imagine that IH's funeral will consist of anything more than a cheap coffin and a very brief service

Exactly this. It's surprising how few people are doing the maths and realising that paying for a £3k funeral is nothing compared to the millions his incarceration cost the taxpayer.

I’m guessing there would have to be a wider public discussion about it to find a solution as there are only finite public funds. I suppose it would be interesting to know if the number of these has gone up or down at all.

Gosh I mean who actually cares

You should have gone to the Co-Op. My husbands direct cremation with them cost £1395 last April.

A better idea would be to shove him in a sack, weigh him down and ditch piece of shit at sea.
How much do you think that would cost? Would you do it for free?

I quite agree

Old article but apparently someone losing an ear/finger in an attack would get the same amount. Bonkers system.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3448813.stm

That is incorrect and unlikely because the council won't pay for funerals. They will pay for essential disposal of the body which means they will pay for the body to be cremated in an undisclosed crematorium, at an undisclosed time. While in theory you are right that people could refuse to pay and en-mass that could be problematic, in practice there won't be many people who's loving relatives want them to be cremated alone at an undisclosed time. If some little old person has been so totally abandoned in her old age that her relatives want her body to end like this, I'm not sure that I could begrudge my taxes being spent on her! It won't be nearly as expensive as the cremation you pay for because that will be at a set place and planned time, somewhere set up for you to watch.

He should just be got rid of via something like Pure Cremation which costs less than £1500. If his family wish for anything more elaborate than that then they should pay for it.
A better idea would be to shove him in a sack, weigh him down and ditch piece of shit at sea.

Will forcing his mother to pay lessen their pain in any way?

You haven’t explained why you think she should be forced to pay. Do you think she should be punished, because she hasn’t suffered as much as his victims and their families? If this is what you think, you should just say it.

Funeral cost would have to come out of the deceased estate, its only when there is no estate that paupers funerals kick in.

Wow, thats diabolical.

I do hope his mum doesn't seek compensation, she wasn't financially dependent on him, if there is a statutory payout shec ould give it to a charity anonymously. Maybe the funeral director and crematorium do it for free so they don't feel any association with someone, if the government do pay then the money goes to the funeral director, not his mum.

It’s not a funeral though in the way people know and generally want , which is why people overwhelming choose to pay.
It’s simply a basic burial only done to dispose of the body.
If no one paid the disposals would be done on a vast scale and it wouldn’t really cost what much. If anything they could generate heat from the plant, it’s just a large incinerator.

It's good to see reason win on AIBU for a change.

Of course his remains need processing. I would never ask his mother to take responsibility for that. She is carrying that monster on her back for the rest of her life as it is. Can you imagine what her day to day life is like? I hope she's alright, that there are people around her at the moment that aren't ghouls.

Ian Huntley is testament to what happens when people let their baser instincts guide their actions. Let's not. Let's not go for his mother. Pay the bill, get rid of the stain he left on the planet and focus our energy on preventing violence against women and girls.

The body's pile up on the street corners. No actually they put taxes up to cover it

There's a law which gives Local Authoritories statutory obligations regarding deaths, burials, funerals etc, including providing a very basic cremation if there are no other funds to pay for it. This is paid for out of local authority funds, the bulk of which is from the annual settlement from central government and various grants, plus also council tax, business rates etc.

OP how would that work? I know someone who has a son in prison for life, she has no contact with him, when he dies should she be made to pay?
We don’t punish the family of murderers.

There’s around 35 million tax payers in the UK. A £3k funeral cost would cost each tax payer £0.0000858
His time in prison at an approximate cost of £50k per year will have cost £1150000 in total, £0.033 per tax payer. That’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Good point!

I agree!