Vault above Hollywood legend sells for nearly £3m on eBay, after more than 20 offers were received by current occupant's widow

Richard Poncher’s final wish was to spend forever with Marilyn Monroe – in the end he managed just 23 years. The late entrepreneur’s body is to be moved from its current vault directly above the one occupied by the Hollywood legend after his widow sold the unit for more than $4.6m (£2.8m) on eBay.

More than 20 offers, starting at $500,000, were received for the slot, located in the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, also the final resting place of Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, Truman Capote and Farrah Fawcett. Elsie Poncher’s eBay advert had been headlined: “Spend eternity directly above Marilyn Monroe”.

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The remains of Mr Poncher, who died 23 years ago at the age of 81, will now be moved sideways to a neighbouring plot. He had told his wife: “If I croak, if you don’t put me upside down over Marilyn, I’ll haunt you for the rest of my life.” That prospect appears to be less galling to Mrs Poncher than it perhaps did in 1986 - she is reportedly planning to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home with the proceeds of the eBay auction.

The successful bidder has not been named, although they used the initials OS to take part in the auction. The vault next to Monroe’s was sold to Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner in 1992, for $75,000.