THE mother and widow of a tragic Black Watch soldier both wept in court as a bitter dispute between the pair over where he should be buried raged three years after his death.

Private Mark Connolly, 24, died after fellow squaddie Paul McKay, 27, decked him with a single punch at a pub in Germany where they were stationed.

Private McKay was later cleared of manslaughter after a court martial heard he acted in self-defence. But three years on Mark's body remains in a morgue in London after a rift between his wife Stacy Connolly and his mother Linda McComiskie.

Stacy wants to lay Mark to rest in her home town of Forfar, Angus, following a "colourful" service while Linda - the executor of his will - wants him in the family plot at Macduff Cemetery in East Wemyss, Fife.

After the civil proof at Forfar Sheriff Court, Sheriff Valerie Johnston will receive written submissions from lawyers for both sides and will makeher decision at a hearing, on May 22.