Man's plea to lay his wife to rest

Diane Cuthbertson, 59, of Hutton, passed away on 16 August 2015 following a dive on a wreck in Bridlington Bay with members of the Filey Brigg branch of the Sub Aqua Association.

Now, more than seven months on, Diane’s family are still waiting for her body to be released for a funeral after a criminal investigation began.

Her husband Carl Cuthbertson, who owns the Tot Stop nursery school in Driffield, said: “The whole situation is very undignified for Diane who is at a mortuary in Hull.

“It is upsetting that my family cannot get the closure that you are supposed to get after the funeral.”

The 60-year-old wants closure to the incident and has now complained to the Professional Statutory Regulatory Body, Humberside Police chief constable Justine Curran, crime commissioner Matthew Grove, Hull Coroner’s Court and has also asked for support from MP Sir Greg Knight.

An inquest was to be held on 11 January 2016 but was cancelled shortly before, and proceedings are yet to be rescheduled. Senior coroner Paul Marks replied to a letter he received from Carl regarding the delay in his wife’s inquest.

Prof Marks said in the letter: “I telephoned Humberside Police who told me there are a number of matters in which need to be tied up. I am unable to determine whether the Inquest will need to be resumed until the police investigation is concluded. I will set the inquest down for resumption as soon as possible and will of course be in a position to release your wife’s body for funeral purposes as soon as the decision about criminal proceedings has been reached.”

Following Diane’s death, Humberside Police said there were no criminal investigations surrounding the death.

“This has been going on for more than seven months and then we still have the inquest following the police investigation,” said Carl. “We have had no contact from the Police to inform us of what is happening at all. I just want to lay my wife to rest.”

A Humberside Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that a complaint has been lodged and is currently being investigated. It would be inappropriate to comment until the complaint procedure has been complete.”