A mother and daughter have been released on bail following their arrest at John Lennon airport in Liverpool for crimes connected with trying to smuggle a dead person onto an airplane. The pair’s alleged plot was foiled after airport staff became suspicious of Kurt “Willi” Jarant and the way he was slumped in a wheelchair wearing a pair of dark glasses.

Wife of the 91-year-old deceased man, Gitta, and her daughter Anke are adamant that Mr Jarant was alive when they arrived at the airport. However airport employee Andrew Millea, who helped Mr Jarant out of his taxi, said that as he did so the old man’s face fell against his and was as cold as ice. Mr Millea said that it was obvious that Mr Jarant was no longer with the living. The mother and daughter, however, simply claimed that Mr Jarant always slept in that manner.

After being placed under arrest on suspicion of not alerting the authorities that Mr Jarant had died, Anke, a 42-year-old care worker, said that both she and her mother were extremely upset about the situation. She said that her father had merely been dozing when they arrived at the airport to catch a plane to Berlin. She claims that the only explanation is that he died whilst waiting.

66-year-old Gitta is also outraged at being accused of trying to smuggle her dead husband onto a plane. She claims that she would never do such a thing. According to a doctor, Mr Jarant had probably passed away the day before. Police have suggested that the pair may have been trying to take the body onto the aircraft bound for Germany so as to avoid repatriation fees.