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A family is now happy after their relative's body was returned to them last Saturday.

Peter Valentine and his family had been in a dispute with Peter Perry from Perry's Funeral Home in St Catherine after he refused to release Patrick Valentine's body to his family before getting payment for his services.

Peter Valentine told THE STAR that the family was instructed by their lawyer to pay $135,000 to Perry.

Initially, Perry told the family that they needed to pay a little more than $200,000 in order to retrieve the body of Patrick Valentine because they had to pay for storage, embalming and removal fees.

After much discussion, Perry decided that he would not take payment for the embalming.

"Mr Perry want people to think that money was the issue, but that is not so. It is all about principle. If he had gotten the body legally, no one would have objected to his fees, except the embalming. Last Saturday, he (Perry) said that he was going to charge us $30,000 for removal and $105,000 for the number of days that he was in storage," Valentine said.

Driven by his good heart

In a statement sent to the news team, Perry said that funeral homes do not usually release bodies on the weekend, but he was driven by his good heart to do it.

"While fees associated with embalming Mr Valentine's body were applicable, he (Perry) took an executive decision to waive these costs, based on outcry from the family regarding the service being carried out, despite the embalming being absolutely necessary. According to Mr Perry, Mr Valentine's body was found in a room that left him partially exposed to the elements, and as such caused early internal decomposition," the statement said.

However, Perry said that he is disappointed that the matter was brought to national attention when it could have been resolved amicably between himself and the family.

"I actually released the body of my own accord two days before the story was even published. I am not a hard man to deal with, and my customers can attest to this. It is very unfortunate that the family felt it necessary to involve the press rather than to simply have a private conversation," Perry said.