A funeral director has been awarded £43,350 in compensation after a tribunal found he was “unfairly” dismissed.

Colin Lockitt was fired from the Dignity Funerals branch in Broadstairs after he removed a necklace from a dead woman ahead of her cremation.

Her widower had wanted it to remain with her.

But, following mixed messages about the jewellery, Mr Lockitt, 64, made a “fast judgement call” and set it aside for the family.

After being contacted weeks later, the bereaved were “very upset”, and Dignity bosses fired Mr Lockitt for “numerous errors in completion of the relevant the paperwork”, and “failing to take proper care of the deceased’s property”.

Mr Lockitt’s dismissal has now been deemed “unfair” by an employment tribunal, who ruled that a reasonable employer would not have summarily dismissed the funeral director.

The London South Employment Tribunal heard that when preparations were being made for the ceremony in 2018, contradictory information was recorded about the what should happen to the necklace.

The funeral arranger wrote in separate notes “'jewellery to stay on” and “all personal effects to be returned to family”.

Arriving back from holiday, Mr Lockitt noticed the discrepancy and tried to follow up with the family to straighten out the situation, but was unable to get a definitive answer before the funeral.

A tribunal report said: “In the absence of being able to confirm the family's instructions he had to make 'a fast judgement call' about what to do with the jewellery.

“He decided that the most sensible course of action was to remove the jewellery which could then be returned to the family if they wanted or could be buried with the deceased's ashes.”

Employment Judge Katherine Andrews found that the dismissal was unfair because Mr Lockitt has not been given all the relevant documentation he needed to prepare for the proceedings.

Speaking after the decision was handed down, Mr Lockitt told KentOnline: “Dignity complained about my paperwork not being in order but they lost as much paperwork themselves taking me to the tribunal, so there’s a bit of that on both sides.”

The grandfather-of-eight had worked for the funeral company for 30 years. He says he was never looking for a payout and would much rather have kept his job.

“I wasn’t out for a payout - I loved my job and I would have settled for a written warning,” said Mr Lockitt.

“But I felt that it was really unfair they way they’ve treated me, so I’m glad there was a payout to help make up for some of the money I’ve lost.

“This whole situation has put so much stress of my family life over the past four-and-a-half years. Hopefully that’s the end of it.”

The Broadstairs resident has since founded his own funeral directing business and says while he enjoys being able to spend more time with his family now, he will certainly have to work years beyond retirement age to recover financially.

“It’s been a great loss,” added Mr Lockitt.

“My wife and I had both taken our pensions to pay our mortgage off because we didn’t know what was going to happen.

“The whole thing could have been handled differently, but not I’d just like to forget about it and remember there is a life outside Dignity.”

Mr Lockitt won his claim of unfair dismissal but lost a wrongful dismissal claim.

Dignity Funerals declined to comment when approached by KentOnline.