A US funeral home owner who pleaded guilty to leaving a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year and improperly stashing the cremated remains of at least 30 people has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to Colorado’s Denver District Attorney’s Office.

Miles Harford, 34, pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of abuse of a corpse and one misdemeanour count of theft.

He faced other counts, including forgery and theft, that were dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

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His 18-month sentence is the maximum sentence under Colorado law for the charges.

“Nothing will ever undo the terrible pain that Miles Harford caused so many families, but it is our hope that this sentence will provide the family and friends of the deceased with some measure of justice,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said.

“Harford systematically and shockingly violated his professional and moral obligations, and, for that, he is now being held accountable.”

Harford was arrested last year after the body of a woman named Christina Rosales, who died of Alzheimer’s at age 63, was found in the back of his hearse, covered in blankets.

Her remains had been there for about 18 months.

Authorities said he had provided the Rosales family with the cremated remains of a different person that he misrepresented as Rosales.

Police also found the cremated remains of other people stashed in boxes throughout Harford’s rental property, including in the crawlspace.

Prosecutors said he treated the bodies and remains “in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities”.

Harford’s sentencing follows years of other gruesome funeral home cases in Colorado, including one where the owners were accused of storing nearly 200 bodies in a decrepit building and giving families fake cremated remains.