Woman kept her father's body inside for days before Stone Age burial

Daughter, 32, secretly carried out illegal ‘Stone Age’ burial for her father, 78, after propping his dead body up on his favourite chair next to woodburner for several days while she and her partner dug 6ft grave, inquest hears

• Eirys Brett, 31, buried father Donald with her partner Mark Watson, 47, in 2019
• Donald requested medieval non-Christian burial in woodland near his home
• They kept his body in the house for days while they dug a grave in the woods 
• Eirys and her partner broke law as she failed to legally register father’s death

A daughter kept her father’s dead body propped up in his favourite chair for days before secretly carrying out an illegal ‘Stone Age’ burial for him after rejecting modern medical help, an inquest heard.

Eirys Brett, 32, followed in the footsteps of father Donald, 78, to live a ‘particularly alternative’ off-grid lifestyle – and refused NHS care when he fell ill.

The inquest heard Mr Brett died and was left propped up in his favourite chair next to a woodburner for several days while his daughter and her partner dug a 6ft makeshift woodland grave.

He was buried in a red and turquoise bobble hat, red t-shirt and harlequin chef trousers. His body was wrapped in a hessian cotton blanket with rope wrapped in a cross pattern with paintbrushes, flowers and a poem in the grave.

Investigating officer Det Con Alex Stuart said: ‘They had a ritual. He was not thrown in, he was strategically placed, it was a Stone or Bronze Age sort of burial, then they covered the hole.’

Eirys Brett, 31, pictured, carried out the secret countryside burial along with her partner Mark Watson, 46, but broke the law as she failed to legally register her father Donald’s death

The inquest heard in the weeks before his death frail Mr Brett messaged his daughter to say: ‘Maybe I should get NHS treatment’ when he started suffering abdominal pain at home.

Eirys and her partner Mark Watson, 47, advised him against seeing a doctor and told him to take alternative medicines.

He came to stay at their home so they could help him but he became ‘quite unwell’ and died a short time later.

The inquest heard Mr Brett wished to be buried at his home – so the couple put his body in their red Vauxhall Corsa to drive to his cottage in June 2019.

DC Stuart said they put Mr Brett in his favourite chair before digging his grave 100 metres away from the house he had lived in for over 25 years in Aberedw, near Builth Wells, Powys.

He said: ‘They started to dig around a 6ft burial site. It was not particularly wide. They dug it down over a number of days while Mr Brett was in his house.’

The inquest heard the alarm was raised by Mr Brett’s landlord after he had not been seen for weeks at his remote stone cottage in Aberedw, near Builth Wells, Powys.

The inquest heard Mr Brett wished to be buried at his home – so the couple put his body in their red Vauxhall Corsa to drive to his cottage in June 2019 (Pontypridd Coroner’s Court pictured)

A search was launched before Eirys and Mr Watson were pulled over by police in a lay-by in the car they had used to transport Mr Brett’s body.

The couple were interviewed by police in August 2019 before admitting that they had carried out an illegal burial without registering the death.

DC Stuart said: ‘They both pinpointed pretty much the same place where he had been buried.

‘It was a full and frank admission from the start. They both made full admissions that he was unlawfully buried.’

The inquest heard phone records showed Mr Brett relied on his daughter for advice on treatments when he became unwell.

Eirys told police that she believed her dad had been suffering with prostate cancer and had advised him to take holistic treatments.

But the inquest heard Mr Brett, who lived a ‘particularly alternative’ lifestyle, had the capacity to make decisions and was not coerced.

Friends told police that Mr Brett would only seek medical treatment if ‘absolutely necessary’ at his cottage with no electricity.

His ex-partner Alison Walker said he was ‘anti-establishment’ and told police her daughter Eirys shared his views.

Ms Walker said she last saw her ex alive in June 2019 when he told her: ‘Aren’t I lucky our daughter is looking after me.’

The inquest in Pontypridd, South Wales, heard Mr Brett died that month – but his body was not discovered until two months later.

Eirys and Mark, of St Harmon, near Rhayader, Powys, were handed four-month suspended sentences at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, pictured 

Eirys and Mr Watson, of St Harmon, near Rhayader, Powys, were charged by police and later pleaded guilty to preventing a lawful and decent burial.

They were handed four month suspended sentences at Merthyr Crown Court in July this year.

Judge Recorder Gregg Bull QC told them: ‘You took every loving care in burying him. This was not a rushed burial in the dead of night in some underhand way.

‘You chose to give him his last rites in what can be best described as some sort of pagan funeral.

‘Everybody’s entitled to their beliefs and make no comment about yours. But you should have gone about it in a different way.’

The inquest on Wednesday heard a post mortem examination revealed the cause of death as ‘indeterminate’ but there was no evidence of anything other than a natural death.

Assistant coroner Patricia Morgan recorded an open conclusion.

She said: ‘There is no evidence to suggest that his death was suspicious.’

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