A bitter feud over the body of a Fife Black Watch soldier is to continue after his mother’s decision to challenge a sheriff’s ruling over where he should be buried.
Linda McComiskie was heavily criticised for her self-interest and “distinct lack of compassion” in a judgment which Mark Connolly’s grieving widow Stacy hoped would bring an end to the legal tug-of-love.
Private Connolly died from a freak punch in a fight with a fellow squaddie at his Paderborn base in Germany in May 2011.
His wife’s intention, in accordance with what she told the court were her husband’s wishes, was for Mr Connolly to be buried in Forfar so he could ultimately be with her when she is laid to rest in the town’s Newmonthill Cemetery.
However, Mr Connolly’s mother challenged the plan as executor of his will, saying she wanted him to be interred in a family plot at Macduff Cemetery in East Wemyss.
Following earlier legal wrangling at the Court of Session, the case was the subject of a civil proof at Forfar which last month saw a sheriff rule in Mrs Connolly’s favour.
In a damning judgment of Ms McComiskie’s conduct, Sheriff Valerie Johnston said the soldier’s mum had “thought only of herself and how she had been overlooked”.
The sheriff said the mother had shown a “lack of insight into the situation of a young recently-widowed woman”.
“This is a battle waged by her to achieve the result she wants, with little regard for the body of her son languishing in storage in London for over three years,” the sheriff said.
In contrast, Mark’s 29-year-old widow was described as having gone through the harrowing legal process in a “quiet dignified manner and with due regard to the delicacy of the subject matter involved”.
It has now emerged that Ms McComiskie’s legal representative has lodged notification of intention to appeal Sheriff Johnston’s ruling.
The soldier’s mother is represented by Tony Anderson, a partner in Fife firm Rollos, who is on holiday and was unavailable to comment.
It is thought the appeal may go before the Sheriff Principal at a date yet to be determined.
Confirmation of the appeal has come at a harrowing time for the Forfar family following the death of Stacy’s father, David Hoggan, on holiday in Turkey, just days after release of the sheriff court judgment.
Stacy’s mother Laura said: “His mother isn’t letting Stacy bury Mark she’s taking it to an appeal court.
“It will take months and months to resolve and he’ll still be lying there.”