Byron McDaniel, STAR Writer

Walderston

Six men were yesterday charged by the Mandeville police for the illegal removal of a corpse from the cemetery of the St Judes Anglican Church at Pratville, Manchester two Saturdays ago.

To face the Mandeville RM Court today are Gauntlet Holder, Glen Reid and brothers Winston, Sylvester and David Malcolm- all from Westmoreland - and Dennis Vanhorne, of Hanover. The six, who comprise tradesmen and a teacher, are charged with malicious destruction of property and the illegal removal of a corpse from the grave, under the Offence Against Public Morals Act.

The men were charged 11 days after the body of 70-year-old retiree Irvin Sinclair, who was interred just hours before, was removed and the grave re-sealed with fresh concrete. "The police were awaiting instruction from the Director of Public Prosecutions ... because such an offence is not committed often," said Inspector Claude Smith, the sub-officer in charge of Mandeville.

The police say the body was dug up as part of an insurance scam in which the men would burn the body and claim life insurance by mis-representing the corpse as being that of the policy owner. Police say the alleged mastermind behind the scam, a former policeman who is wanted for bigamy, has returned to the US where he resides.

The men charged were caught along the Winston Jones Highway with the body in the trunk of their car. The body was later handed over to relatives who re-interred it the same evening.