A Falmouth man whose brother died recently has said he will not be able to grieve fully due to strict council rules about publicly funded funerals in Cornwall.

Brian Medlin's brother Michael was found dead at his Webber Hill flat on July 16, and due to his financial situation the council has taken on responsibility for his funeral, which means family and friends will not be able to see the body before it is cremated or buried.

His brother Brian has written to the Packet of his distress, claiming that the council will not let him see his brother one last time, and has failed to notify him of the date of the funeral.

He wrote: "I have been asked by a few of his friends when [the funeral] will be, I would like to get some sort of reply from the council department who are dealing with this to tell me. Why I cannot go over to Camborne to see my brother and to say goodbye.

"If I cannot go to see him, it will make it very hard for me to take in what has happened and to grieve fully.

"After all I am his brother and I should be allowed to go to see my brother for the last time."

Mr Medlin said the funeral directors in Camborne had told him he could not see his brother, and he had also been told that the council would not organise a local funeral notice giving the date and time of the funeral.

Cornwall Council's rules follow national guidelines for so-called public health funerals - which it is legally obliged to provide under the Public Health Act and which cover the burial or cremation of anyone who dies in the county with no next of kin, or where the family is unable or unwilling to pay for a funeral.

In these circumstances the council has said it will organise the collection of the deceased, a coffin, fees for the crematorium or burial, a vehicle to transport the deceased, and a basic service, but will not cover anything else for the service, the release of ashes or a gravestone, provide a viewing of the deceased, or give a choice of times for the service.

A council spokesperson told the Packet that it was "unlikely" that there would be a comment on individual burial cases, but added: "The family are always told the date of the funeral once it has been set."