It is a puzzling story with a still unsolved mystery at its heart: just who is the individual whose cremated remains were left on the counter of a burger van at Newbury racecourse?<\/p>\n
And why \u2013 despite the cremation urn being labelled with a name and a message that hints at a loving family \u2013 has no one come forward to claim it?<\/p>\n
Despite extensive inquiries by the racecourse and local police officers, no next of kin have been identified for the person named as Gary Bonsor on a sticker on the side of the urn. No racegoers could shed any light on the mystery, and the local crematoriums were also unable to help.<\/p>\n
Now, after a petition to the ecclesiastical court of the Diocese of Oxford, Mr Bonsor \u2013 or whoever the urn contains \u2013 will finally be laid to rest in a local parish churchyard. Though the wishes of the person\u2019s next of kin may not be known, according to the vicar of St Mary\u2019s, Greenham, this will at least give the ashes \u201ca permanent resting place\u201d.<\/p>\n
The curious case of the cremation urn, the fast food van, the racecourse and the medieval church court began at a race meeting on 24 July last year, when, according to police at Newbury station, \u201cthe urn and contents [were] left on a burger van counter\u201d.<\/p>\n
Two printed stickers were stuck to the side of the urn, reading \u201cRIP GARY BONSOR\u201d and \u201cMY DAD MY HERO\u201d. But though the racecourse checked all that day\u2019s tickets for the unusual surname and wrote to all ticket-holders, there was no response.<\/p>\n
Eventually, a member of racecourse staff took the urn to Newbury police station, part of Thames Valley police, who made their own extensive searches and contacted local crematoriums \u201cwho were unable to provide information\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to a document<\/a> published earlier this month by the consistory court of the Diocese of Oxford, \u201cthe police attempted to trace the next of kin and although they thought they knew the family, said family denied any link to the urn\u201d.<\/p>\n With police having also drawn a blank, the urn eventually passed last September to a churchwarden from St Mary\u2019s, Greenham, a Grade II* listed church<\/a> close to the racecourse site.<\/p>\n