‘Dead in arrivals’ case criticised

GITTA Jarant (right) and daughter Anke. PIC: BBC

A lawyer has blasted prosecutors for “prolonging the agony” of two Oldham women accused of trying to smuggle a dead relative on to a plane.

Officials at Liverpool John Lennon Airport raised the alarm when they suspected the pair were attempting to board a plane with the corpse of a man in a wheelchair.

Gitta Jarant (66), and her daughter Anke Anusic (41), of Franklin Close, Coldhurst, were arrested as they waited to board an easyJet flight to Berlin with the body of Gitta’s father Kurt Jarant, who was 91.

In what came to be known as the “Dead in Arrivals” case, the corpse was propped-up in a wheelchair and had sunglasses covering his eyes.

In April, the women were charged with failing to report a death and released on police bail. In June, that bail was extended to July and has now been further extended until September.

But their solicitor Rex Makin insists that the duo have no case to answer and has branded the investigation a “waste of time and resources”

Mr Makin, said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. There is no basis for making criminal charges against these women.

“It is protracted and unnecessary — and at a time when we’re being told to cut costs.

“It is completely wasteful and totally shameful of the prosecution service to prolong the agony for these ladies in this manner.”

The mother and daughter maintain they thought grandfather Mr Jarant was simply asleep and must have died in the airport.

They denied claims the German former pilot, known as Willi, had been dead for some time.

A post-mortem examination established Mr Jarant died from natural causes up to 12 hours before he was pronounced dead.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman confirmed Mrs Jarant and Miss Anusic had been re-bailed until September pending further inquiries.