London, October 28: A British nurse who died three decades ago in Saudi Arabia will finally be cremated by her family in England.
Helen Smith was 23 when she died after apparently falling from a sixth-floor balcony while at a party in Jeddah in May 1979.
While police treated her death as an accident, her father Ron was convinced she was murdered and there was a cover-up surrounding what happened on the night she died.
Miss Smith’s remains were transferred to a mortuary in Leeds shortly after her death and have remained there ever since while her father fought several legal battles for an inquiry into how she died.
But now the 83-year-old says he has agreed for his daughter’s body to be released so she can be buried in November.
“My ex-wife said that while her and her children see no fault in my fight for the truth, she felt we should organise the funeral while we were both still alive,” he told The Times newspaper.
“Looking at it logically and dispassionately, I must agree.”
Miss Smith’s remains are expected to be cremated on November 11.
An inquest into her death held in England in 1992 returned an open verdict.
Despite his decision to allow the cremation to go ahead, Mr Smith says he does not expect to get any closure about his daughter’s death.
“Helen’s remains must, I agree, be disposed of as they say in legal terms,” he said.
“But I will never accept that there has been no cover-up, or (give up) this cause for which I have been fighting for 30 years.”
—Agencies