UK navy officer laid to rest in Sri Lanka after 25-year delay

A British naval officer’s wish to have his ashes scattered at a strategic base in Sri Lanka has been granted 25 years after his death, officials said on Saturday. Lieutenant Norman Schofield had served as a communications officer at Trincomalee, a key staging post for Allied troops on the island nation's east coast during World War II.

Schofield's wish was held up by bureaucratic hurdles, with Sri Lanka's navy saying it was unable to be accommodated earlier because the country had prohibited the practice of scattering ashes. An exception was made following requests through diplomatic channels.