Hoarder’s body may have lain under clutter for four years
THE remains of a missing 87-year-old hoarder – who neighbours said they hadn’t seen for four years – have been found buried under clutter in her home.
Gaynor Jones was found dead in her cottage in Aberaeron, Ceredigion, which she shared with her daughter, after neighbours raised the alarm.
Emergency services who were called to the house found Valerie, her daughter, trapped under mounds of papers. It took police four days to find the remains of her mother in another part of the cottage.
Search teams were using skips to remove clutter from the home when they discovered the decomposed body.
Valerie Jones, believed to be in her fifties, was taken to Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth in a “poorly condition” and is believed to be suffering from severe dehydration. She was found on Monday after a tip-off from neighbours who had become concerned.
It is not known how long the widow had been dead, but one neighbour said that he had not seen the women in four years. The pair are believed to have mainly spoken Welsh and did not regularly mix with their elderly English neighbours.
One woman said: “They were well known, not for being seen about, but as the old Welsh family who kept themselves to themselves. They were very reclusive…i guess you could describe them as odd.”