Council U-turn over burial rule

A council has been forced to reverse a policy allowing only Muslim burials to take place at weekends.

Sheffield Council came under fire when Jean Maltby tried to arrange a Saturday service so family from outside the area could attend.

She was refused and told weekend burials were only available to Muslims.

The council has since said it had "got it wrong" and was working out a new policy to offer people of every faith living in the city the same service.

The council also apologised "unreservedly" to Ms Maltby, who had wanted a Saturday service for her 75-year-old stepfather Harold Lemaire.

It had only offered weekend burials to Muslims because the Islamic faith says that the dead must be buried as soon as possible.

Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, cabinet member for climate change and local environment, said: "After looking into this issue we can now see that we got it wrong and this particular policy needs to change.

"We should be offering the same burial service to every citizen of Sheffield regardless of faith."

He added: "The council is urgently working on bringing forward a new policy that will allow a weekend burial service to be offered to everyone on an equitable basis. Once again, we apologise for any distress caused."