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Friends of a Northumberland man who passed away two months ago and has since been kept in a hospital mortuary are outraged that no public authority has taken responsibility for his funeral.

Des Lowther, 68, from Prudhoe, succumbed to bowel cancer on 2 October. The former charity worker had no immediate family, and his friend Lisa Botto expressed her distress to ChronicleLive over the fact that nobody stepped forward to cover the cost of his funeral.

She alleged that both the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and Newcastle City Council refused to finance what is typically referred to as a "public health" funeral, reports Chronicle Live .

This usually involves a direct cremation. Now, two months on, thanks to Barclays Bank releasing the remaining funds in Des' account and

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