A legal battle is brewing between a US cryogenics facility and the son of one of its clients after the company froze his deceased father’s head instead of his entire body, filings seen by The Daily Telegraph show.

The Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, is facing a $1million (UK 773,000) lawsuit after Kurt Pilgeram said he was sent a package from Alcor “which purportedly contained his father’s cremated remains, except allegedly for his father’s head” which had been transported to a cooler for preservation.

According to legal documents, Mr Pilgeram was “shocked, horrified and extremely distressed” as he knew how important it was for his father, Dr Laurence Pilgeram, to have his whole body preserved.