Two German women have been arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle a dead relative on to a flight out of Liverpool’s John Lennon airport.
The women reportedly pushed Curt "Willi" Jarant (91) in a wheelchair and covered his face with sunglasses in a bid to board him on their flight to Berlin.
The pair - his wife Gitta Jarant (66) and step-daughter Anke Anusic (41) - protested that the lifeless pensioner was merely asleep when questioned by officials at the airport on Saturday.
It is believed the duo had somehow managed to ferry the corpse some 60kms in a taxi from their home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, to the airport.
But the bizarre attempt to smuggle the body to Germany quickly fell apart when airport staff began asking questions. They were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death.
They were subsequently released on bail.
In an interview with the BBC today, Mr Jarant’s wife and step-daughter insisted they thought he was asleep. "[He was] the best man of the world - a good man,” Ms Jarant said of her dead husband.
Ms Anusic said they did not know he was dead. “A dead person you cannot carry to Germany. There’s too many people checking and security. How can you bring a dead person to Germany?” she said.
She said her step-father - who suffered from Alzheimer's - had recently been treated for pneumonia in hospital. She said they waited until he was released from hospital before booking their flights to Berlin. She said he was "fine".
"He was not dead. He was pale, but he was not dead. He was like this for months," insisted Ms Anusic. "We don't know how they can charge us with things we didn't do."
Mr Jarant's cause of death is unknown. The coroner has been informed and a postmortem examination is due to take place on the dead man over the next few days.