Des Lowther - who died on October 2. Friends are angry at a two-month wait for his funeral after public authorities didn't take responsibility. (Image: chroniclelive)

Friends of a Northumberland man who died two months ago say they are “heartbroken and furious” after no public body stepped in to arrange his funeral, leaving him in a hospital mortuary since early October.

Des Lowther, 68, died from bowel cancer on October 2 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. With no next of kin and only a small amount of money to his name, friends believed he would receive a public health funeral - the service provided when someone dies with no relatives able to organise it.

But they say neither Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust nor Newcastle City Council agreed to take responsibility, leaving Mr Lowther’s b

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