BRIT OAP FOUND IN COSTA DEL SOL HOME A YEAR AFTER DEATH

NEIGHBOURS ALERTED COPS TO ‘BAD SMELL’

THE mummified body of a British OAP has been found in the Costa del Sol home she shared with her daughter, nearly a year after she died.

The dead woman was named locally yesterday as Valerie Butroid.

Police have launched a probe after discovering her body under a mattress at the property in Zahara de Istan, near the resort of Marbella, following complaints from neighbours about a bad smell.

The 71-year-old, from Lincolnshire, is believed to have died on March 12 last year.

Neighbours on the upmarket residential estate where the body was found said Valerie lived there with her daughter Louise, while her grand-daughter, believed to be aged about 15, lived elsewhere and visited from time to time.

A neighbour said Louise had become reclusive after the death several years ago of her husband in the same house.

Her whereabouts were unclear last night.

One said: “She was at the Civil Guard station in Marbella on Saturday but has been back since.”

Another, a Brit expat who has been living near Valerie and her Lincolnshire-born daughter for years, said: “There’s been a bad