Two Germans held for taking dead relative on plane

The airport authorities got suspicious about the inert figure, face hidden behind sunglasses, on the wheelchair and decided to check the pulse, officials said.

Gitta Jarant, 66, and her daughter Anke Anusic, 41, were arrested at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport after it was found that 91-year-old passenger Kurt Willi Jarant was dead, Sky News reported.

Jarant was an Alzheimer's patient and was being taken in a wheelchair. He was wearing sunglasses, when officials became suspicious and checked his pulse.

His widow and stepdaughter, who were about to board the flight to Berlin with him, were arrested on suspicion of failing to give a notification of his death.

The two women denied charges that Jarant had been dead for some time when they transported him from their house in Oldham by taxi to the airport. They said they genuinely believed he was asleep.

The women would, however, not face any charges, and the case against them has been dropped because the time of death could not be ascertained, the Crown Prosecution Service said Saturday.