Rev Richard Coles admits he 'broke the law' by placing pets ashes in their owners' coffins when undertakers weren't looking

Published: 11:53, 25 May 2026 | Updated: 11:55, 25 May 2026 The Reverend Richard Coles confessed to 'breaking the law' by placing the ashes of pets inside their owners' coffins.  The former preacher artfully distracted undertakers before slipping an urn containing an animal's remains next to their owner.  Giving a talk at the Hay Literary Festival, Mr Coles explained: 'It is illegal to bury a dog’s ashes with a body.  'The reason is that there are different jurisdictions over the disposal of remains. Human remains are one thing, and all other remains another thing.' Mr Coles recalled how his sleight of hand began by confirming that the deceased's coffin was not screwed down.  'So I would quite often go to the undertaker – I can’t tell you this, I am breaking the law – with the dog’s ashes and say, "Have you screwed down Mrs Haversedge?" 'And they’d say, "Not yet", and I’d say, "Look at that bird!"', he said. Now retired, Mr Coles said he would carry out the final wishes of parishioners while he served his ministry at St Mary the Virgin in Finedon, Northamptonshire from 2011-2022. The Reverend Richard Coles with his two dogs Daisy and Pongo at St. Mary's Church, Finedon Mr Coles 64, justified his breach of burial laws by arguing, 'There is a wideness to God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea, and it’s our job to live in accordance with that.' Who can be buried on holy ground is a debated matter within the church.  For centuries, suicides and the unbaptised were not allowed to be buried in graveyards.  Recently many vicars have unofficially ignored religious rulings on the subject and argued that mercy should come before doctrine.  'I know that my predecessors didn’t really care. They would extend mercy, because there are no limits to God’s mercy,' Mr Coles added, in the talk first reported by the Telegraph. Mr Coles is the author of Canon Clement Mysteries, a series of crime novels, with a religious setting. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.