A coroner's office has been criticised over the delay in releasing the body of a Jewish woman for burial.
Holocaust survivor Ester Kestenbaum, 91, died on Sunday at a care home in Stamford Hill. Her family requested that she be buried the following day.
But the senior coroner for Inner North London, Mary Hassell, was on leave and her office refused to process the necessary paperwork on a bank holiday.
The inquest was eventually completed on Tuesday morning, with the funeral following later in the day.
Rabbi Asher Gratt, spokesman for the strictly Orthodox Adath Yisroel Burial Society, called the delay “a shameful disgrace” in an open letter sent to 13 local and national government officials.
Rabbi Gratt said it was “entirely inconsistent with the free open society which Britain claims and aspires to be”.
Trevor Asserson, whose law firm is representing the deceased’s family, said the refusal was “out of step” with the Chief Coroner’s advice on out-of-hours service and showed a disregard for the needs of faith groups.
Professor David Katz, a medical advisor to the Board of Deputies, said the incident was "an accident waiting to happen," adding: “It seems this is a case of insensitive bureaucracy inflicting totally unnecessary added upset to a bereaved family.
“The Board has made representations about the there being no out-of-hours service and something needs to be done about it.”
Prof Katz, an emeritus professor in immunopathology at University College London, added: “The original coroner’s review stated quite clearly that there needs to be a medical examiner system put in place so someone could decide that bodies can be released for burial rapidly under circumstances such as this, and this case indicates that it's about time this was done. It's more than overdue.”
The Jewish and Muslim communities have previously clashed with Ms Hassell over the scrapping of weekends and out-of-hours services.
Ms Hassell was unavailable for comment.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Bereaved people must be at the heart of the coroner system, so we have introduced reforms to make sure inquests are conducted quickly and consistently around the country.
"We are very aware of specific concerns from religious communities about the need for early burial. We are reviewing whether coroner services are responsive to faith group needs, particularly Jewish and Muslim communities."
