Charlie Smith
A BRITISH grandmother has been found dead in Andalucia after her family kept her mummified body in the house for a year.
The unidentified 79-year-old’s corpse had rotted away to the skeleton and was hidden by a mattress and some cardboard.
She is thought to have died 24 hours after Mother’s Day, but police were only alerted to the house in Istan by her ex-husband.
While visiting, he was shocked to find his ex-wife’s body, and persuaded her daughter and teenage granddaughter to tell the police.
According to Guardia Civil agents, the house was very dirty and the woman was found with clothes on, surrounded by empty air fresheners.
The mother did tell a neighbour her mother had died, but they did not know the corpse was in the house.
Other neighbours had complained about a bad smell at the property but this was explained by pets the family kept.
An inspection at Malaga’s Institute of Legal Medicine ruled out violence, and an autopsy will now confirm if the woman died of natural causes.
Police think the family may not have announced the woman’s death, in order to evade burial fees or to continue claiming her pension.
