A funeral home in Pennsylvania has said they have finally identified the remains of a petty thief, known to locals as ‘Stoneman Willie’.

One of the US’s oldest mummies, he had been on display in the funeral home in the small city of Reading.

He was accidentally mummified when a mortician tried to preserve a corpse in 1895.

Before he died he gave authorities a fictitious name upon his arrest, and his true identity remained hidden.

Now, locals gave ‘Willie’ an elaborate send-off, carrying his hearse in the parade marking the 275th anniversary of the city’s charter.