A 26-year-old persistent offender arranged his own funeral and placed a death notice in a regional newspaper to escape French police earlier this month. Apart from the police, only his grandmother turned up for the ceremony in western France.

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"His mother, his father, his brothers and sisters and the whole family would like to inform you about the death of (Cédric L) who passed away on Thursday 11 September at the age of 26," said the notice in the regional daily Ouest France.

It announced that a memorial service wouldl be held on Tuesday 16 September at 10.30 am at the church of Christ Roi de Courteille in the western city of Alençon.

Police, who were searching for the 26-year-old after he had been sentenced to five years in jail for fraud and theft, turned up but found no coffin nor funeral.

But they did find his grandmother, who was not aware of the trick and came to the service.

A public prosecutor on Friday confirmed that the young man was in fact alive although he has not been arrested yet.

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