THE body of a tramp embalmed by an eccentric artist and kept in a secret drawer in his studio is the property of his estate, a coroner ruled yesterday.

The well-preserved body of Edwin MacKenzie, known as Diogenes, was found in Robert Lenkiewicz’s studio in the Barbican, Plymouth, following Lenkiewicz’s death in August at the age of 60.

It ended a mystery about the whereabouts of the dead tramp who had built up a friendship with the painter and had asked him to embalm his body.

After his death in 1984, Plymouth City Council tried to force Lenkiewicz to hand over the body for cremation, but he refused to do so.

Nigel Meadows, the coroner, said that the body should be released to Lenkiewicz’s estate because it had the proper “right of possession”. His decision raises the possibility that the tramp could one day be put on display in a retrospective exhibition of Lenkiewicz’s “work”.

Mr Meadows said: “I am satisfied that the late Robert Lenkiewicz obtained lawful possession of the body orginally and that while it was in his possession, he arranged for it to be embalmed. In my view this process gave him the right to continued possession.”

The Lenkiewicz Foundation, which inherited his estate, will be free to do what it chooses with Diogenes as long as it complies with the laws governing environmental health and public decency.

Anyone with a legitimate objection to the ruling has just a week to lodge their complaint. If it had legal standing then it would be referred to the High Court in London to determine.

Mr MacKenzie died aged 72 in 1984 and Lenkiewicz blocked the city council’s attempts to give him a Christian burial. He had called him Diogenes after discovering him living in a concrete barrel.

The coroner wrote to the Lenkiewicz Foundation, Plymouth City Council and MacKenzie’s estate demanding proof to the lawful right to the possession of the body.

The Anatomy Act states that a person can only donate their body to medical science and not for artistic reasons.

A Plymouth City Council spokesman said: “Our primary concern is to ensure that public health is maintained and we will be available to advise the executors of any public health issues.”

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