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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/12/funeral-home-says-it-swapped-grandmothers-coffin-for-cheaper-box-to-protect-it
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| Funeral home says it swapped grandmother’s coffin for cheaper box to protect it | Funeral home says it swapped grandmother’s coffin for cheaper box to protect it |
| (25 days later) | |
| A Queensland funeral home accused of swapping a grandmother’s expensive coffin for a cheap pine box has said it was only done so the pricey casket wouldn’t crack. | A Queensland funeral home accused of swapping a grandmother’s expensive coffin for a cheap pine box has said it was only done so the pricey casket wouldn’t crack. |
| On Thursday police confirmed they were investigating an alleged fraud after a Rockhampton family accused a funeral home of switching a 74-year-old woman’s $1,700 silky oak coffin for a cheap pine box just before her cremation. The family of Janice Cecilia Valigura said letters written by her grandchildren and placed on her heart were thrown away. | On Thursday police confirmed they were investigating an alleged fraud after a Rockhampton family accused a funeral home of switching a 74-year-old woman’s $1,700 silky oak coffin for a cheap pine box just before her cremation. The family of Janice Cecilia Valigura said letters written by her grandchildren and placed on her heart were thrown away. |
| On Friday funeral director Tony Hart told the Courier-Mail his company, Harts Family Funerals, only moved the body to a crematorium in a cheaper box to protect the structural integrity of the casket her family paid for. | On Friday funeral director Tony Hart told the Courier-Mail his company, Harts Family Funerals, only moved the body to a crematorium in a cheaper box to protect the structural integrity of the casket her family paid for. |
| “The coffin she was cremated in was the same one that the family bought,” Hart said. | “The coffin she was cremated in was the same one that the family bought,” Hart said. |
| Hart said there had been a delay at the crematorium which meant the coffin had to be placed in a freezer before cremation and the cheap pine box was a transfer shell. | Hart said there had been a delay at the crematorium which meant the coffin had to be placed in a freezer before cremation and the cheap pine box was a transfer shell. |
| Queensland police are still investigating the matter and have spoken to people from the funeral parlour and the crematorium. | Queensland police are still investigating the matter and have spoken to people from the funeral parlour and the crematorium. |
| Valigura’s son Mick Valigura has said the family was shocked by what had happened. | Valigura’s son Mick Valigura has said the family was shocked by what had happened. |
| “I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he told the Morning Bulletin. | “I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” he told the Morning Bulletin. |
| On Thursday the president of the Queensland Funeral Directors Association, Anton Brown, had said changing coffins was not common practice in the funeral industry. | On Thursday the president of the Queensland Funeral Directors Association, Anton Brown, had said changing coffins was not common practice in the funeral industry. |