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Coroner accused of interference with a dead body ordered to stand trial

Two of four charges against Kenneth Mattinson dismissed after preliminary hearing.
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Kenneth Mattinson (seen here in an undated photo) is accused of interfering with a dead body when he worked as a coroner in 2009.

A former B.C. coroner has been ordered to stand trial on two of four charges related to allegations he improperly examined a pair of female murder victims.

Chilliwack's Kenneth Glen Mattinson was initially facing four charges – two each of interference with a dead body and breach of trust by a public officer. However, two were dismissed after a preliminary hearing in Surrey Provincial Court which concluded Wednesday.

After hearing the evidence (which is subject to a publication ban), a judge ordered Mattinson stand trial in New Westminster Supreme court on one count of interfering with a dead body and one of breach of trust. His next court date is scheduled for March 14.

At the time of his arrest in October 2010, the RCMP said a forensic identification officer at a Langley crime scene "noticed what appeared to be a pattern of questionable and possibly criminal behaviour in the manipulation of bodies."

Police said the investigation involved the murders of 36-year-old Laura Lynne Lamoureux in Langley in March 2009 and Brianna Helen Kinnear in Coquitlam the month before.

Mattinson, 63, retired from the B.C. Coroners Service shortly after the investigation was launched, said police.