Undertaker fined over false wedding

Philip Ellis. Photo / Simon Baker

Philip Ellis remembers his "wedding day" fondly - even though it turned out to be a sham.

It was a "good day and a good night", and he was to be married to a "lovely lady", he told the Herald.

Not long after the ceremony in November, 2006, things began to unravel. The woman he thought he had married, Jeanette Hardey, died suddenly, and Mr Ellis discovered that the two men trusted to carry out the ceremony had committed a fraud.

Yesterday he finally saw an end to the saga in court - though only one of the pair behind the false marriage now has a criminal conviction.

"I've got a grudge, but I have got to get over that. I think I will. It's not going to bring Jeanette back," Mr Ellis said.

Funeral director Geoffrey Hall, 56, who performed the ceremony between Mr Ellis and Ms Hardey without legal authority, was yesterday fined $1000 in the Christchurch District Court, and ordered to pay other costs of $6750.

But Rev Maurice Gray, 54, who signed a legal document saying he had solemnised the marriage when he was not even there, was discharged without a conviction, and ordered to pay costs of $4250.

Judge Jane Farish said although Gray's offending was serious, so too would be the impact on him of having a conviction. He had resigned as an Anglican priest, and faced losing his work with various government organisations, the judge said.

Asked about Gray escaping having a conviction on his record, Mr Ellis said: "That's life. But I hope he learns his lesson."

Judge Farish said both Gray and Hall were otherwise upstanding members of the community, and it was almost inexplicable for them to end up before the court. There was no financial gain for them.

Hall went ahead with the wedding ceremony when Gray was called away urgently, and he knew he did not have the authority.

"It was very much your ego and self-gratification that got in the way. You liked being the centre of attention," Judge Farish told Hall.

The judge urged Mr Ellis to consider meeting Gray and Hall as a way of getting past what had occurred.

"I'm going to give that some thought, but I don't think that will help. I'll end up clocking them," Mr Ellis said.