Ananova:

A crematorium has come up with a novel solution for mourners unable to get to a loved one's funeral.

Southampton Crematorium has launched a pay-per-view scheme that allows them to watch the funeral online.

For a one off fee of £75 friends and family are able to view the funeral service live on their computer screen via a video camera placed discreetly in the chapel.

A password protected site will enable mourners to view the ceremony online for up to seven days after the event.

The company behind the scheme, Wesley Music, is also offering DVDs of funerals for £50 or audio recordings for £25.

The company says that the internet service is intended as a way of helping families who may be spread out across the world.

"The service is designed very much with the distant relative or ill friend in mind," comments Trevor Mathieson, manager of Southampton Crematorium.

"Families are getting older and more dispersed and it is not always easy to get to a funeral these days. The webcast or DVD can let them be a part of the service."

However, critics have branded the scheme as macabre.

Some have also accused Southampton city council of trying to make a profit out of the service, but the authority says it will only break even after the cost of running the scheme and uploading the web content has been taken into account.

After being launched in Southampton the internet option will now also be offered at crematoria in Liverpool, Cambridge, Nottingham, Peterborough, Worthing in West Sussex, Redditch in Worcestershire and Wokingham, Berkshire.

According to David Powell, of Southampton-based funeral director Henry Powell and Son, the funerals that had been organised for testing the system have been seen via webcast in Canada and Australia and have garnered positive reactions.

The family of retired accountant John Childs, whose 68-year-old wife Joan died of lung cancer in March, was among the first to try the service.

The couple's son Wayne, 44, had been with his mother when she died but had to fly home to Perth in Australia before the funeral.

Mr Childs said the chance for Wayne to watch the service over the internet was a "great comfort" to him and the family.