Former Surrey, B.C., coroner Kenneth Glen Mattinson arrives at Provincial court in Surrey, British Columbia, Wednesday January 9, 2013. (CARMINE MARINELLI/Vancouver 24hrs/QMI AGENCY)

VANCOUVER - Half of the charges against a B.C. coroner who retired after police began investigating the “manipulation” of two female murder victims in 2009 were dropped at the end of a preliminary inquiry Wednesday in Provincial Court.

Kenneth Glen Mattinson will stand trial in March for one count each of interference with a dead body and breach of trust by a public officer.

Police said when charges were laid two years ago that a forensic officer at a Langley homicide scene noticed “what appeared to be a pattern of questionable and possibly criminal behaviour.”