A priest exposed a fake funeral: the coffin was empty, and the "deceased" was mourned by actors

In the UK, a priest was forced to cancel the funeral when he discovered that the "deceased" was being mourned by actors and the coffin was empty. SSPDaily found out more about this accident.

This is reported by the Daily Star.

The Reverend Rupert McGurdy had prepared a sermon and was in his clothes when he arrived for the service. The lavish funeral was to take place at the Roman Catholic Church London Oratory, one of the oldest churches in the capital, in South Kensington.

There was a horse-drawn hearse, two luxury vintage cars, men in hats, a full choir, and a church full of photos of the young man. But Mr. Rupert was stunned to discover that the body was missing from the coffin and the mourners were paid actresses.

It was said that it was the funeral of a 23-year-old Latvian man named Lauris Zaube. But it is not known whether he is actually dead or whether his family has also become an innocent victim of a sinister scam. He disappeared after a New Year's Eve party near the dam, but his body seems to have never been found.

Rupert said: "The request for the funeral came three or four weeks ago. On the day of the funeral, everything started to unfold. The undertakers were going to pick up the body, and then at the last minute they were told: "There is no body, we have the ashes". When I realized that it was not a real funeral, we said we could not do it. We told them to leave, and they all left relatively happy. If they were a real family, they would have been crying. I was very shocked after that. I felt very worried. Usually you take people's word for it. I was worried that there would be some violence. I decided I had to stop it because it was not real. It was very scary."