The lawyer representing the 55-year-old man who kept his deceased father’s body in an industrial freezer for years at his hotel in Mystras, near Sparta in the southern Peloponnese, in order to continue collecting his pension, along with that of his also deceased mother, claimed his client loved his parents “pathologically”.

“This pathological love of his explains a great deal,” said Agis Kokkoros, speaking to Greek broadcaster Mega, attributing the act to “psychological reasons.”

“He is now beginning to understand the gravity of what he did, that he should have given his father a proper burial,” he added.

Kokkoros noted that he had not yet received a copy of the case file, but went on to argue that his client was educated, had assets of his own, and that money was not his motive.

Kokkoros clarified that his client is being prosecuted for continuous fraud as a misdemeanour, since his father’s pension payments totalled less than 120,000 euros. As a result, he will not appear before an investigating magistrate on Friday, but will instead give his testimony directly before judges; until then, he remains in custody.

Asked about reports that he had surrounded the hotel where he hid his father’s body with cameras and barbed wire, Kokkoros said only that all the houses in the area had security cameras, reserving further comment until he had seen the case file.