Powys: Couple buried father in pagan-style woodland ceremony

Donald Brett wanted to be buried in woods near his farmhouse home at Aberedw, near Builth Wells

A daughter carried out her father's last wishes by burying him illegally in woodland in a pagan-style ritual, a court has heard.

Eirys Brett, 31, and her partner Mark Watson, 46, buried Donald Brett, in a secret ceremony in 2019.

The couple were carrying out Mr Brett's wishes, but broke the law by failing to legally register his death.

The pair, of St Harmon, near Rhayader, Powys, were handed four month suspended sentences Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.

The court heard how the couple had buried Mr Brett out of a "sense of love and loyalty".

Prosecutor Tom Scapens said Mr Brett, from Aberedw, near Builth Wells, was last seen alive in June 2019 but his body was not discovered for some time.

He was thought to have been 78 or 79.

Brett and Watson were arrested and told officers he had died of natural causes and where he had been buried.

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The court heard that when he was exhumed, Mr Brett's body was wrapped in a hessian cotton blanket with twine wrapped in a "medieval burial" pattern.

A number of items had been buried with the body including artistic supplies, poems and flowers.

Mr Scapens said his cause of death was identified as a lung condition but added Mr Brett also had prostate cancer.

"Donald Brett was revealed to be a non-conformist person in his approach to life. He lived in a unique way," he said.

"He would not seek medical attention or advice unless it was completely unavoidable and if he had to seek treatment, he would only allow the minimal intervention. This is confirmed by medical notes and statements throughout the investigation."

'Extremely misguided'

He added Mr Brett was a strong character and evidence had shown that he was firm in expressing his wishes to the defendants about how he wanted to die and how he wished to be buried.

Mr Scapens said the defendants were "extremely misguided" but "not malicious" in carrying out the burial.

Nicholas Gedge, defending, said Mr Brett was "undoubtedly in extreme ill health and in excruciating pain" in the lead up to his death.

Judge Gregg Bull QC told them: "You took every loving care in burying him. This was not a rushed burial in the dead of night in some underhand way. The way in which he was buried showed that you loved him, and I take that into account."

He said he had to pass a sentence of imprisonment because the public requires that the dead are dealt with "in a decent way".

"You could have achieved the same objective by following the law and that is not simply where you think or where he thinks is appropriate but where you are permitted to bury him and to register the death - those were the two things you failed to do."