May 22, 2026 — 5:00amFor the past year, the body of John Thomas Morgan has remained refrigerated in a funeral home as his wife accused their daughter of forging her husband’s will and Prince of Wales Hospital of killing him and then covering it up.Dr Ying Morgan, 65, is a retired medical researcher from Maroubra. She wants her husband’s body transferred to the state coroner’s facility at Lidcombe for forensic examination.The body of John Morgan has been stored at a Central Coast funeral home for the past 12 months.Artwork: Michael HowardHowever, the couple’s son Huw and daughter Lynette want their father’s remains to be cremated, as per his wishes. Their mother claims that “potential forensic evidence” would be permanently destroyed by cremation.Lynette Morgan has taken the matter to the NSW Supreme Court, which heard last week that John Morgan was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia early last year. He died on April 17, 2025.“He was a brilliant human being,” said University of Technology Sydney professor Eric Kennedy of his former friend and colleague.John Morgan, who was dux of Gosford High School, graduated in chemistry from the University of NSW and later obtained a degree in electrical engineering from UTS.Ying Morgan, who describes herself as a “victim of scientific fraud” on a social media platform, accused a doctor of completing the form concerning her husband’s death before his death. In her submission to the court, she claimed that this “was itself evidence that the deceased had been killed intentionally and with premeditation by the doctors attending on him at the Prince of Wales Hospital.”Dr Ying Morgan was a cancer researcher at UNSW.The court heard that the state coroner had already declined to investigate the circumstances of Morgan’s death.Four days after his death, Morgan’s two children and their mother had gone to the Central Coast to make funeral arrangements. Their father had requested that he be cremated and that his ashes be interred at Palmdale Cemetery in the same place as his father’s ashes.However, while the family was discussing arrangements with the funeral directors, Ying Morgan said she wanted her husband’s death to be investigated.This put any funeral plans on hold.In early June 2025, the Prince of Wales Hospital said it could no longer store the body, which was then transferred to Creightons Funeral Service in Palmdale, which usually charges storage fees of $100 per day.According to evidence given by Creightons’ manager, “the body is being stored in refrigeration, but this does not prevent the natural decomposition of the body.” The manager said Creightons does not have the facilities “to store the deceased’s body indefinitely.”In her judgment delivered on Tuesday, Justice Kate Williams found that Morgan’s claim that the hospital killed her husband was not supported by any medical or scientific evidence. Without any such evidence, the judge said: “There is no real prospect of an inquest now being held.”The judge said there was no further reason to deprive Morgan’s children and his sister, Janice Clapham, of the opportunity to carry out his wishes. “This has been a source of great sorrow to them, in addition to their sorrow at the deceased’s passing,” Williams said.She ordered that Lynette Morgan be appointed the administrator of her father’s estate and that the costs of the legal dispute be paid by the estate. If there weren’t sufficient funds, the judge reserved the right to make a costs order against the mother.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners