Cemetery boss death is examined

Ramadan Guney's family is calling for an inquest in the UK

A coroner is looking into the death of a former owner of an historic cemetery in Surrey, which happened in Cyrpus.

Ramadan Guney, 74, who was born in Cyprus and emigrated to Britain in 1958, was the owner of Brookwood Cemetery in Woking.

He died in November 2006, apparently from a heart attack, but his family have been calling for a UK inquest.

Surrey Police said it had carried out inquiries into Mr Guney's death and had handed a file to the Surrey coroner.

His daughter-in-law, Melanie Guney, manager of Brookwood, said the family was not happy with the original investigation into Mr Guney's death and believed there were suspicious circumstances.

Body exhumed

Mr Guney had two sons and four daughters with his wife Suheyla, who died in 1992.

A post-mortem examination was carried out in Cyprus in 2006 and Mr Guney's body returned to Brookwood.

It was exhumed in February 2007 and a second post-mortem examination carried out before it was returned to the vault.

"Surrey Police has provided the coroner with a file which represents information gathered as a result of its enquiries into the death of Ramadan Guney," said a spokesman.

"The matter is still under consideration by the coroner."

Mr Guney bought the 154-year-old cemetery in 1985 from its previous owner.

The original intention was to identify suitable burial facilities for members of the UK Turkish Islamic Trust, of which Mr Guney was chairman.

He cleared and restored areas of the 460-acre cemetery, which used to be known as the London Necropolis, and digitised its records.

His company, Brookwood Cemetery Ltd, is continuing with clearance work.