Polish priest charged over illegal reburial

Witold Orlowski

A priest accused of illegally exhuming the remains of a 14-year-old Polish boy in October 2009, appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday.

Father Wojtek Jasinski, Superior of the Marian Fathers, the congregation that until recently owned the Polish Catholic centre, Fawley Court in Henley on Thames, is accused of moving the body of Witold Orlowski, who died in 1944.

Witold’s family escaped to Lvov when Poland was invaded by Germany in 1939. They were then captured by the Soviets and transported to a labour camp in Siberia. There, the boy’s father and sister died of typhoid.

Witold later died from typhoid in Mexico. The family said he had prayed that God would take his life and save the life of Father Jozef Jarzebowski, who was seriously ill.

Fr Jarzebowski made a full recovery, which has lead to calls for Witold to be canonised.

Witold’s mother, Zofia brought his remains to England in 1953, hiding them from customs in a metal box inside a suitcase. They were then buried at St Raphael’s Convent in Bullingham, Herefordshire.

When the Marian Fathers decided to sell the convent, Fr Jasinski brought the remains to Henley without notifying the authorities, and buried them in the Fair Mile cemetery in Henley in October 2009.

The missing remains were reported by a cousin of Witold, Zbigniew Mantorski, when he visited the convent to see the Witold’s grave and found it missing. In March, Witold’s gravestone was discovered by walkers abandoned at the roadside in Rotherfield Greys.

Police oversaw an official exhumation and reburial of Witold and his mother's remains last year.

When questioned about the exhumation, Jasinski said he was “at peace in my heart that it was the right thing to do”.

The hearing was adjourned to give the prosecution and defence more time to prepare. Fr Jasinski, who has not entered a plea, was bailed and ordered to return to court in July.

The sale of Fawley Court by the Marian Fathers has caused great distress among the ex-pat Polish community. They say that although their families paid for the centre, they weren't consulted over the decision to sell. A spokeswoman told ICN: "This exumation is just another example of their high-handed behaviour. They feel they are so important there is no need to consider the views of the ordinary people - or in this case even the law of the land. There are more graves in the chapel at Fawley Court which was a beautiful copy of a little Polish mountain church. One wonders what they will do with these remains."