A woman has appeared in court charged with murdering her father and burying him in her Stockport garden more than a decade ago, while continuing to collect his benefit.
Barbara Coombes, 63, was held on suspicion of murder after turning herself in at the Cheadle Heath Police Station on Sunday.
Police searched the garden of her home on Matlock Road, Reddish, and discovered human remains on Tuesday, thought to be that of her father, Kenneth Coombes.
Coombes, wearing black-rimmed spectacles and a brown woollen jumper, spoke only to confirm her name, address and date of birth, when she appeared at the Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
She is accused of murder on 8 January 2006 and preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body between 7 January 2006 and 10 January 2018.
Coombes is also accused of fraud by false representation between 15 January 2007 and 10 January 2018, by making a false representation, sending official letters in her father’s name, intending to make a gain by claiming monies not belonging to herself.
The final charge is obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception between 7 January 2006 and 15 January 2007, by making a false representation that she was her father’s carer.
The mother-of-one gave no reaction as she was handcuffed to a prison officer and was remanded in custody to appear at Manchester Crown Court on Friday morning.
The results of a Home Office post-mortem have not been disclosed.
Kenneth Coombes was reportedly a Royal Artillery bombardier who would have turned 99 this week.
Records list Kennth Coombes as sharing the address with Barbara and her daughter, Islay Coombes, 29.