In England, a mother went through the heartbreaking ritual of having her son cremated, only for him to turn up alive a short time later.

Three days after 37 year old Thomas Dennison was reported missing, police found a dead body. The missing man's mother confirmed that the body was that of her son and, following an inquest, the body was cremated. Sad story, made even more depressing by the fact that, four days before the funeral, Dennison was found living rough, less than 100 miles from where he had disappeared. Police failed to tell the mother that her son had been found alive.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission are dead keen to find out what happened and will dig to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, I have a burning desire to find out why the mother identified the wrong boy as her son. I mean, I sometimes long to disown my own sons, but I don't think I'd go quite that far.

Reuters