Liverpool airport man 'dead for 12 hours'

Willi Jarant's family denied knowing he was dead

A dead man who was turned away from an airport check-in desk had been dead for up to 12 hours, police have said.

Gitta Jarant and her daughter, Anke Anusic, were arrested at Liverpool John Lennon Airport when it emerged Curt Willi Jarant, 91, was dead.

The women - his widow and stepdaughter - have protested their innocence and said they thought he was asleep.

Mr Jarant, known as Willi, was wearing sunglasses in a wheelchair when staff checked his pulse and found no life.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "A Home Office post-mortem examination concluded the man died of natural causes.

"Blood samples have also been sent off for further tests.

How can you bring a dead person to Germany? Anke Anusic

"The pathologist also concluded the death occurred up to 12 hours before he was pronounced dead.

"The two women arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of death remain on bail until June."

Mrs Jarant, 66, and Mrs Anusic, 41, were due to board a flight to Berlin with several others when they were arrested.

They deny claims that Mr Jarant, a German national, was already dead.

He had been taken by taxi to the airport from their home in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

"He was alive. He was pale but he wasn't dead," Ms Anusic told the BBC.

"A dead person you cannot carry to Germany, there are too many people checking and security.

"How can you bring a dead person to Germany?"