Is it wrong to speak ill of the dead?

Marcus Brigstocke has written a no holds barred "good riddance" to Bernard Manning in the Guardian Unlimited, it's quite clear that he was not a fan, and there is no doubt that Bernard Manning was a racist bigot (celebrated for it, even)

Mannings humour is defended in the outpouring of readers comments, along with the usual defense of Free Speech, and worn out PC back-lash banging on.

Here's a taste of Mannings humour, re Black people.
"They used to be happy people in the cotton fields, singing their bollocks off day and night. A fella used to go around with a whip... 'Oh, massa, give us another crack of dat whip. I love dat whip'..."

In the united states this week a 71-year-old man alleged to have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan has been found guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of two black teenagers that sparked a summer of violence later depicted in the film Mississippi Burning.

Bernard Manning reportedly died from kidney failure.

Bigots rarely die from their bigotry but bigotry is often deadly.