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

[PassingStranger]

Can't Ian Huntleys mother who was at his bedside and in touch with him, pay for his cremation.
Why should the tax payer pay?
He's already cost the taxpayer loads.🤔😫

I suppose we could drop his rotting corpse in a field close to the home of one of the people who think the state shouldn't dispose of him properly... 🙄

I think people have said the actual cost is less than £2k. It's hardly extravagant and it's a fraction of pennies you pay in tax.

And who is meant to pay for it?

There is no legal obligation on his mother to dispose of his body.

Are you suggesting the tax payer should fund an attempt to force her to do something they are not legally entitled to force her to do? Not only would that be futile, but it would cost more than cremating him.

You are pissing in the wind, OP. The fact is, there is a cost to the tax payer in dealing with people who commit crimes whether we like it or not and disposing of this vile man's corpse is part of that cost.

Maybe the terminally outraged think that a public health funeral is an exciting and generous state benefit they are somehow missing out on.

As has been pointed out multiple times on thid thread, including by someone who actually works in the field, it probably won't cost £3k. That is the maximum amount that the legislation allows, not what is automatically paid. In all probability, once the Coroner releases the body there will be the most basic and cheapest cremation and disposal of the body possible, with the minimum possible people involved or even knowing about it. Nobody, including his close family appears to be asking anything more than that.
But a dead body, no matter who it belonged to must be disposed of in accordance with the appropriate legislation. There are good reasons why we don't bury bodies on random plots of land or chuck them off fishing boats these days. People are getting stirred into a frenzy protesting about something that won't even be happening. It's not a funeral, it's the disposal of a body.

Why should she?

Indeed - this is what "chucking away" the body looks like. The most basic legal disposal allowed.

I was going to make a similar point. How do people suggest we make the mum pay? Force a gun to her head? Spend thousands forcing a change of law resulting in far more tax payers money being spent than would cost the funeral and no doubt cause even more distress to his victims families.

Its as if people believe the more outraged they are, the more morally superior they are. You can still be disgusted by his crimes and realise that dead bodies whether they be murderers or not need to be disposed of safely and legally for public health reasons. And that the cost for this comes at an absolute miminmal cost to the tax payer.

You think anyway. However, no one really knows for a fact.

The minority crowing about the victims families are also ignoring the fact that this option is the least harmful to them also. If the state takes charge they can ensure that it is done as anonymously as possible. No picture for the tabloids, no one taking advantage of the infamy to get clicks online, no grave that could attract weirdos. It would be done discreetly and quickly.

Ian Brady didn't have a funeral and his ashes were disposed of at sea. I suppose this is slightly different because Huntley was murdered when he should have been protected by the state. But it would be easier if they just had a quiet committal.

This is so true . . . I've just googled to see what happened at the funerals of three other prisoners

Ian Brady's & Peter Sutcliffe's were swift and private. However Myra Hindley's, although held in the evening, was attended by 12 people, numerous journalists and it took 50 officers to police it

It's far better that this is dealt with quietly, out of the public eye and with the absolute minimum expenditure.

Surely if we were to force his Mum to cover it (which is bonkers), with her money she could
do what she likes?

I bet you’d be outraged to see him have an expensive funeral with family present.

He isn’t his Mum’s problem. I don’t think my parents would pay for my funeral and I’m not a criminal.

He must have had a funeral to be turn into ashes.

No, he must have been cremated. A funeral is the ceremony. The ceremony is optional.

I haven’t read a thread that’s made me roll my eyes so hard in a long time.

Its not a debatable issue because this policy is in place for a very good reason. I hate that I have to point it out but the only alternative to the state not arranging a disposal for someone like IH is that the state doesn’t arrange a disposal for anybody. It is impossible to take on a case by case basis, where do you draw the line? Who makes those judgements?

No state disposals could mean:
If the uncle that SA’d you as a child dies and you’re his next of kin, you need to pay for his funeral.
If you’ve not been in contact with your abusive mother for 30 years but you’re her next of kin, you need to pay for her funeral.
If you’ve fled your abusive spouse for your safety and they die and you’re next of kin, you’re going to need to pay for a funeral.

Don’t forget funerals aren’t just a financial burden, the emotional toll, especially in a very complex case can be devastating. I can’t even begin to imagine what lies in his mother’s head but I’d bet my mortgage it’s a total horror show. It surprises me that so many people on this thread knows exactly what she thinks and feels…..

IH will never die until you stop letting him live rent free in your mind. Choose not to waste any more of your energy on him. That’s the best we could all do now.

I agree. You might as well ask why he's been housed and fed by the tax payer instead of his mother paying. He's a vile piece of shit but we are not barbarians.

This is sort of what I’m thinking. If his mum did take it pay for a private memorial or whatever, she’d be slagged off by people for doing that for murdering scum. ‘Why don’t you let the state dispose of him’? Etc.

I’m just not getting the outrage. The guy is dead, just dispose of him already, don't care who pays!

I'd personally consider paying 1k to ensure the OP never gets into a position of power with the ability to make decisions on public spending.

I dont think she actually knew him?

Why does she need to have known him?

She’ll actually be his next of kin. Not his Mum. So it’s not outside the realm possibility that she could claim the ashes

It doesnt matter how many peoole sign the petition
His body needs disposing of as a matter of public health
What else would you do with it throw it out on the street?

Exactly.

It's similar to the other thread where people were displaying outrage they were having to pay taxes to keep prisoners like Huntley locked up in prison while offering no alternative to what we do with them or who would pay the £85,000 a year (or whatever it costs to keep them locked up)

I mean don't get me wrong, I'd rather people didn't commit such henious crimes but if taxpayers don't pay to keep them locked up, then the alternative is they roam the streets free to commit again then it's a cost I'm willing to pay.

There is no legal next of kin as such and I assume hes not on the birth certificate
So he wouldn't be legally recognised as her Father.

Agree with this. £3k is a small price to pay to finally be rid of that waste of oxygen for good. At least to the cost of imprisoning him for decades. Let’s just get on with it, move on and hopefully allow the Wells and Chapman families to once again get on with their lives without his name ever cropping up again.