A WINDOW cleaner looking for more than £2,000 to help pay for his wife's funeral has received a helping hand after a donation from a customer.

Colin Bowden said he felt “let down by the system” after being refused funding to help pay for the funeral of wife Marilyn, who committed suicide last year after suffering depression.

Last month the Bucks Free Press reported that the 47-year-old was sent a letter stating “further action to recover full payment” of the £2,401 he owes for the funeral costs is now being considered.

Mr Bowden has since come to an arrangement where he pays a certain amount each month.

But friend Mavis Robinson was so horrified to hear of Mr Bowden's plight after reading the previous BFP story, she gave him £100 of her own money to pay towards the cost of Marilyn's funeral.

Mrs Robinson, of Lawson Garden in Pinner, said: “I think it's terrible what happened. If people can't afford a funeral, it should be paid for. I think in this case it should have been paid for.

“I was quite surprised this should happen to anybody.”

Mrs Robinson said the donation was “money well spent” adding Mr Bowden – who has cleaned her windows for the last 25 years – has “always done a good job” and is a “very honest man”.

Mr Bowden said: “I want to say thank you very much to her – it was quite unexpected.”

A series of errors left Mr Bowden with a funeral bill he was unable to pay.

He first applied for funeral funding on December 16 and was told he would get a response within 12 weeks – but he heard nothing back until April 6.

Correspondence about the application was sent to the wrong number house in The Gowers, Amersham, where Mr Bowden has now moved to from the home he shared with his wife in Brockhurst Road, Chesham.