Post by iagosan on Mar 8, 2024 16:40:22 GMT
The most bizarre headline you will read this year (and there will be some good competition I expect in the Autumn)
“The funeral fakers: Mystery as priest arrives for service at one of London's most historic churches only to find the mourners are actors, the coffin is empty, the dead man might not be - and the whole thing 'was organised by a paedophile'”
By CHRIS MATTHEWS
PUBLISHED: 21:26 EST, 7 March 2024
A London priest arrived to conduct a funeral at one of the capital's most historic churches only to find the mourners were fake and the coffin was empty.
The bizarre mystery left locals in one of the capital's most exclusive boroughs baffled.
At 11am on Monday, a lavish funeral was set to take place at the London Oratory Roman Catholic church in South Kensington. There was a horse-drawn hearse, two luxury vintage cars, men in top hats, a full choir and a church full of photos of a young man. There was even a director filming the tragic day.
Yet the funeral was cancelled when the priest leading the service was stunned to find the body was missing from the coffin and the mourners were paid actors.
Father Rupert McHardy, 49, had prepared a sermon and was in his robes, ready to start the service when the choirmaster took him aside.
The funeral was said to be for a 23-year-old Latvian man who was reported missing at New Year.
It is unclear whether he is even dead - or whether his family are also innocent victims of the sinister scam.
The organiser claimed to be Clyde Zaube, who said he was the brother of the 'dead' man, Lauris Zaube.
Clyde said Lauris was found frozen in ice. The funeral directors, T Cribb and Sons, were even provided with a death certificate - although it was allegedly from Russia.
However, while Lauris Zaube is a 23-year-old Latvian man who went missing after a New Year's Eve party near an iced-over dam, his body has seemingly not yet been found and he doesn't appear to have a brother called Clyde.
In another shocking twist, Father Rupert said he believes the man who organised the funeral is actually a convicted paedophile, who MailOnline is not currently namin
Fr Rupert told MailOnline: 'The funeral [request] came in three or four weeks ago.
'We said, ''is there a connection [to the church]?'' and they said yes, from someone proposing to be his brother, Clyde Zaube.
'He chose the readings.
'On the day of the funeral, it all started to unravel.
'The undertakers were going to collect the body and then at the last minute they were told, ''there is no body, we have ashes.'''
Fr Rupert said there were two groups of people in the church. The first group, who turned out to be actors, were respectful and polite, although one of them complained that they hadn't been paid.
He said: 'There was another group of people in puffer jackets and balaclavas, Clyde Zaube included.
'They had hoods and dark glasses. They were sinister-looking.
'I tried to speak to this Clyde Zaube and he wouldn't speak to me.
'It became clear he wasn't who he claimed to be.
'It was all some sort of fake funeral.
'They pretended there was a body and mourners.
'One of the actors knew the name of the person who had contacted them to come.
'He's quite an unpleasant character.
'I'm pretty sure he's the one claiming to be Clyde Zaube.
'When I realised it wasn't a real funeral we said we can't do this.
'We told them to leave and they all left relatively happily.
'If they had been a real family they would have been weeping and crying.
'We were paid. The funeral directors were paid. We haven't lost any money but it's very, very weird.
'I was quite shaken afterwards. I felt very disturbed by it.
'Normally you take people at their word.
'No expense was spared - top hats, a horse-drawn hearse, two expensive vintage cars, a full choir.
'I was worried there was going to be some sort of violence.
'I thought, I have got to stop it because it's all fake.
'It was very spooky.'
MailOnline has contacted Riga Police for comment.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13171539/priest-funeral-mourners-ACTORS-NO-body-coffin-London-Oratory.html
or
web.archive.org/save/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13171539/priest-funeral-mourners-ACTORS-NO-body-coffin-London-Oratory.html
“The funeral fakers: Mystery as priest arrives for service at one of London's most historic churches only to find the mourners are actors, the coffin is empty, the dead man might not be - and the whole thing 'was organised by a paedophile'”
By CHRIS MATTHEWS
PUBLISHED: 21:26 EST, 7 March 2024
A London priest arrived to conduct a funeral at one of the capital's most historic churches only to find the mourners were fake and the coffin was empty.
The bizarre mystery left locals in one of the capital's most exclusive boroughs baffled.
At 11am on Monday, a lavish funeral was set to take place at the London Oratory Roman Catholic church in South Kensington. There was a horse-drawn hearse, two luxury vintage cars, men in top hats, a full choir and a church full of photos of a young man. There was even a director filming the tragic day.
Yet the funeral was cancelled when the priest leading the service was stunned to find the body was missing from the coffin and the mourners were paid actors.
Father Rupert McHardy, 49, had prepared a sermon and was in his robes, ready to start the service when the choirmaster took him aside.
The funeral was said to be for a 23-year-old Latvian man who was reported missing at New Year.
It is unclear whether he is even dead - or whether his family are also innocent victims of the sinister scam.
The organiser claimed to be Clyde Zaube, who said he was the brother of the 'dead' man, Lauris Zaube.
Clyde said Lauris was found frozen in ice. The funeral directors, T Cribb and Sons, were even provided with a death certificate - although it was allegedly from Russia.
However, while Lauris Zaube is a 23-year-old Latvian man who went missing after a New Year's Eve party near an iced-over dam, his body has seemingly not yet been found and he doesn't appear to have a brother called Clyde.
In another shocking twist, Father Rupert said he believes the man who organised the funeral is actually a convicted paedophile, who MailOnline is not currently namin
Fr Rupert told MailOnline: 'The funeral [request] came in three or four weeks ago.
'We said, ''is there a connection [to the church]?'' and they said yes, from someone proposing to be his brother, Clyde Zaube.
'He chose the readings.
'On the day of the funeral, it all started to unravel.
'The undertakers were going to collect the body and then at the last minute they were told, ''there is no body, we have ashes.'''
Fr Rupert said there were two groups of people in the church. The first group, who turned out to be actors, were respectful and polite, although one of them complained that they hadn't been paid.
He said: 'There was another group of people in puffer jackets and balaclavas, Clyde Zaube included.
'They had hoods and dark glasses. They were sinister-looking.
'I tried to speak to this Clyde Zaube and he wouldn't speak to me.
'It became clear he wasn't who he claimed to be.
'It was all some sort of fake funeral.
'They pretended there was a body and mourners.
'One of the actors knew the name of the person who had contacted them to come.
'He's quite an unpleasant character.
'I'm pretty sure he's the one claiming to be Clyde Zaube.
'When I realised it wasn't a real funeral we said we can't do this.
'We told them to leave and they all left relatively happily.
'If they had been a real family they would have been weeping and crying.
'We were paid. The funeral directors were paid. We haven't lost any money but it's very, very weird.
'I was quite shaken afterwards. I felt very disturbed by it.
'Normally you take people at their word.
'No expense was spared - top hats, a horse-drawn hearse, two expensive vintage cars, a full choir.
'I was worried there was going to be some sort of violence.
'I thought, I have got to stop it because it's all fake.
'It was very spooky.'
MailOnline has contacted Riga Police for comment.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13171539/priest-funeral-mourners-ACTORS-NO-body-coffin-London-Oratory.html
or
web.archive.org/save/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13171539/priest-funeral-mourners-ACTORS-NO-body-coffin-London-Oratory.html
