THE mummified remains of husband and wife that have been lying in an Edinburgh mortuary 13 years after they were found may finally be laid to rest with the launch of a legal bid at Scotland's highest civil court.

Eugenios and Hilda Marcel died 23 and nearly 30 years ago respectively but their bodies were kept at a private mausoleum by their sons Nigel and Melvyn at a property in the Polwarth area of the Capital.

Their bodies have been kept at Edinburgh City Mortuary, run by the local authority, after being discovered in the basement of a former fishmonger's in Polwarth area of the city in 2002.

It was reported that staff at an undertakers in West Lothian village had been paid to preserve the bodies by embalming them, and four employees were sacked.

But no charges were brought .

Now Edinburgh City Council is due to appear at the Court of Session at the end of January to continue its bid to win the legal authority to lay the bodies to rest.

Local authorities can normally cremate or bury unclaimed bodies in their custody and indeed have a legal obligation to dispose of them properly. But Edinburgh City Council had great difficulty in making any progress in negotiating with the two sons as they had left the country, leaving only a forwarding address.

The local authority had been intending to resolve the matter some time ago, but has had to wait on the Court of Session to accommodate different dates for the case

A council spokeswoman said "This matter is scheduled to appear before court again on January 23 and the Council will await its decision.”

She said the timetable was set by the court, and said the council could not say whether Mr Marcel was in this country or not.

In 1987 when Mrs Marcel passed away from lung failure, aged 68. Her husband, a Greek-Cypriot hotelier, died seven years later from prostate cancer, at 91.

Jeremy Balfour, Conservative List MSP for Lothian and also a serving Edinburgh City councillor since 2005, said there the council had not been to blame for this unfortunate saga. "But this needs to be dealt with as soon as possible and bring this issue to an end after so many years. We have to do that in respect of those who have passed away, so their bodies can be dealt with in the appropriate way."

Embalming a body helps to slow down the natural process of decay after death and to help the skin keep as natural a colour as possible.

A spokesman for the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) said families would choose to embalm a body to preserve it as well as possible prior to a funeral.

"Not all funeral directors offer the service, but it can be particularly useful when there is a delay in a funeral if, for example, families have to travel from abroad to view the body."

He said some funeral directors also choose to embalm wherever possible to assist staff in looking after the body as part of their overall care. Embalming would have an effect, typically, for around two weeks, he said.

Meanwhile more and more people are wanting personalised funerals he said.

“We have seen funeral corteges led by Darth Vader or a procession of tractors or motorcycles, while people have become far more aware of the possibilities of doing something out of the ordinary.”

In YouGov research only 10 per cent of adults in Scotland surveyed said they would want a full religious service in a place of worship, while 13 per cent said they would want a funeral in a place of worship, but not a full religious service.

However, 19 per cent said they would prefer a civil ceremony, while 18 per cent would opt for a Humanist funeral and 8 per cent wanted a green or woodland funeral.

The NAFD wanted more people to talk about their own funeral and what sort of ceremony they would like.