Woman keeps dead father in bin to draw his pension

BERLIN - A German woman hid her father's corpse in a rubbish bin for three years so she could collect his pension and old age benefits, police said on Thursday.

Police became suspicious after the woman, 55, failed to give a credible account of her father's whereabouts following a routine check by local authorities.

"She was eventually asked something along the lines of 'So is he buried in the garden?"' said a spokesman for police in the western town of Krefeld. "And she said, 'no, he's not in the garden, he's in the rubbish bin out back."

Police found the partially mummified corpse wrapped in plastic and buried under leaves. The woman told police she had found him dead at home and had hidden the body to claim his benefits, the spokesman said.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the death, but said there was no indication of foul play so far.

They charged the woman with fraud and breaking German burial law. She may also have to pay back the benefits, believed to total tens of thousands of euros, police said.

- REUTERS