Image copyright Google Image caption Kathleen Etty-Leal had wanted her ashes scattered on the hills north of Newtown, her daughter said

A woman's wish to have her ashes scattered on the Welsh hills is set to be fulfilled 26 years after her death.

Kathleen Etty-Leal died in Worcestershire with her ashes buried at a local church in 1993.

But a judge granted consent for them to be exhumed so her wishes to have them scattered in Powys could be honoured.

A Church of England Consistory Court was told her ashes had been buried "at the insistence" of a former daughter-in-law.

However, the marriage between one of Mrs Etty-Leal's sons and his wife had ended, which prompted Mrs Etty Leal's daughter Sarah Worboys to make the request to the court.

It was told Mrs Etty-Leal wanted her ashes scattered on the hills north of Newtown, where her ancestors come from, even though they were interred at St Bartholomew's churchyard in Naunton Beauchamp, Worcestershire.

Image copyright Google Image caption Her ashes were buried in St Bartholomew's churchyard in Naunton Beauchamp

Charles Mynors, chancellor of the diocese of Worcester, in his role as a judge of the court, ruled that although he considered it a "borderline" case, he believed the circumstances were sufficiently exceptional for him to grant permission for exhumation and pave the way for Mrs Etty-Leal's wishes to be honoured.

He said no-one had been able to explain to him why the views of the daughter-in-law prevailed over those of Mrs Etty-Leal's four children.

The chancellor said other members of the family backed Mrs Worboy's request, saying they remembered Mrs Etty-Leal speaking of her wishes for her ashes to be spread over the Welsh hills, and her adding that she was claustrophobic and did not wanted them putting underground.