Man found alive five years after "cremation".

[Saya]

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....g_in_care_home

A MAN spotted his father alive on television - five years after he thought he had cremated him.

John Renehan's father, John Delaney, went missing in 2000.

When a badly-decomposed body was found in the bushes at Manchester Royal Infirmary in April 2003 - wearing similar clothes and with similar old wounds - police said it was him.

A coroner confirmed the identification and Mr Renehan and him family paid for a cremation and wake.

But it has now emerged Mr Delaney was not the dead man. In fact 71-year-old had been in a care home since 2000 where he was placed after being found wandering dazed and confused in Oldham. It is understood he had suffered total memory loss and was unable to hold a proper conversation after receiving a blow to the head 10 days earlier.

Mr Delaney was unable to give any clues to his identity so he was given the name David Harrison and placed in a home - where he has been living for the last eight years. His worried family filed a missing person report at the time of his disappearance and police issued a public appeal with his photograph but no information was received.

Meanwhile, Oldham Social Services, which was caring for Mr Delaney, was unable to put out an appeal for information until a law change this year meant Mr Delaney did not have to give consent.

In April this year, Mr Delaney featured on a daytime television programme about missing persons.

By coincidence, Mr Renehan, who was doing night-shifts for the first time in his life, was watching at home and recognised his dad. DNA tests confirmed the link and the pair had an emotional reunion two weeks ago.

Now Mr Renehan, of Ladysmith Road in Didsbury, is demanding an apology for his trauma over the past five years. The 42-year-old father-of-two said: "I had just finished my night-shift and was getting ready to go to sleep when I turned on the TV. As I was turning away I got a glimpse of who I thought was my father. For the rest of the day I could not get to sleep. I was in shock. We thought we had cremated, my dad. But I knew it was him."

For more on this story select the links on the right.

Engineer Mr Renehan - who took his mother's maiden name after his parents split-up - is now spending part of every day with his father - and claims the elderly man's memory is beginning to improve.

But Mr Renehan is still angry that no DNA checks were run by police on the body found in 2003. And he says he still has sleepless nights thinking of the family of the man he had cremated.

Coroner Nigel Meadows is set to apply to the High Court to quash the inquest which confirmed the dead man as Mr Delaney and recorded an open verdict. It is understood Mr Meadows, who was not in post in 2003, accepts that DNA evidence was not commonly used to identify decomposed bodies at the time.

Sources at Greater Manchester Police said they believed the man they found was Mr Delaney - who was homeless before he went missing - because both men were wearing similar jeans and tops, and both had historic head and rib wounds.

The force put out a missing person alert when Mr Delaney disappeared, but have now admitted that `mistakes were made'.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Peter Fahy today spoke of his "great sympathy" for Mr Renehan and his family.

He said: "This is an awful situation for the man to find his father is still alive and he's had no contact with him. I have the greatest sympathy with the family. I think the public will appreciate this is a difficult situation where you have a very badly decomposed body.

"We will need to review what happened here with the coroner."

[Valravn]

Well i guess that's nice to find out, sometime "destiny" is more the interesting.

[Tam Li Hua]

Holy crap! x_x;;; That's crazy!

On one hand, they've -got- to be glad he's still alive! On the other, grieving the loss of a loved one unnecessarily would be a WEIRD feeling.

I wonder who the original body was..? I guess we'll never know. *shrug*

[Pantherlette086]

Creepy!! Can you imagine? You somehow come to terms with your loss, and then find out the person you supposedly cremated is alive?! Wow.

[CandyKorns]

That's horrible! That's like one huge bad, bad joke - "your dad's dead ..... (EIGHT YEARS LATER!) ... NOT!! GOT YA!". Wow.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Originally Posted by Saya

A MAN spotted his father alive on television - five years after he thought he had cremated him.

Five years and Cremation, top that Jesus.

[crucifix]

I got so excited over the title of this thread. Like he woke up in the cremation oven because somehow is miraculously broke and wouldn't fire up and he layed there thinking, "I am in a metal box. Is that you satan?" Now I am so disappointed.

[Opteron_Man]

Woah, now is something one would never forget!

[drewsilla]

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

Five years and Cremation, top that Jesus.

Fucking LMAO here!!!

[Deadmanwalking_05]

*Hands Joker a cigar* Good one.

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by Joker_in_the_Pack

Five years and Cremation, top that Jesus.

Heh heh. Part of me is tempted to say "OH NO U DI'IN'T!", but I think I'll let this one go. XD