A grieving Skipton father has had to postpone his daughter's funeral after she was shot dead by her American husband.

Tragic Melanie Edwards was gunned down along with her two-year-old daughter Carli Fay in California last year. Their bodies were this week brought home to be buried together near family in Bradford.

But after the ordeal of unsuccessfully trying to identify the bodies, Melanie's dad Brian Cunningham, of Skibeden Road, has had to cancel funeral arrangements while dental records are sought from across the Atlantic.

Melanie, 33, and Carli Fay were killed by Carlton Edwards last month. Around nine days after the shootings he turned the gun on himself after being captured by police on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco.

The mother and daughter were flown back to Manchester Airport last Sunday and brought back to a funeral directors in Nab Wood, Bradford. Melanie's mother Jacqui Melvin, who lives in nearby Cottingley, said she was very relieved and hoped to have a funeral this week.

But because of identification problems, and the second post mortem, the family has been told there will be no funeral for the time being.

Mr Cunningham told the Herald: 'Melanie died six weeks ago so things are pretty tough at the moment. They have done a post mortem over in America but they have not accepted it here and there has to be another one, so now there are the English proceedings to go through.

'We have been to identify the bodies and we couldn't identify them, so dental records are being sought from America and I think DNA tests will be carried out. We had booked the funeral for next Thursday but it's all been cancelled now because they are having to send for the dental records.'

Bradford coroner Alan Cooper said: 'DNA is one of the possibilities we are looking at at the moment. There won't be a funeral for the foreseeable future. I am having to liaise closely with the American authorities to ensure that everything is done properly.'

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