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A phantom mourner who goes to every funeral at a local church to tuck into food at the wake has been slammed by grieving relatives.

It is claimed the unnamed woman has joined mourners at almost every funeral for the last 14 years and even chats to grieving family members and at one recent funeral ate buffet food ‘like there is no tomorrow’.

But it was revealed today that the bogus mourner is known to the local priest who said he had spoken to her and gleaned that she believes it is her “duty to attend as many church masses as possible.”

The bemused priest added that he could not stop her attending funerals, adding: “I can’t exactly say you can’t come here.”

(Image: Brand X)

Father Noah Connolly, of the Holy Redeemer Church in Slough, Berkshire, said the religious woman for some reason believed it was her duty to attend services.

He said: “Every funeral we have she comes and if there is a reception afterwards she makes her way to it without invitation.

“She is a Catholic woman and she is convinced she needs to go to as many masses as possible. She has been coming and going since I have been here for the past 14 years.”

A mother whose daughter died after battling a rare illness slammed the stranger after she turned up at the family funeral in Slough and filled a box with food at the wake.

Catherine Whitehead died at the age of just 42 years after living her life with the rare condition, Addison’s disease.

Three weeks after her death friends and family gathered for a funeral but the unknown woman appeared on a bicycle and later began chatting to guests at the wake.

(Image: INS News Agency Ltd) (Image: INS News Agency Ltd)

Catherine’s mother Margaret Whitehead said: “She got my son Kevin to give her a lift from the church to the Irish Centre for the wake.

“There were a lot of people at the funeral from Catherine’s work so I just assumed she was a colleague.

“When I spoke to her though she told me she used to work with Catherine as a waitress. My daughter never worked as a waitress.

“She was eating from the buffet like there was no tomorrow.”

Despite the woman’s sense of religious duty Mrs Whitehead said her attendance was intrusive and not acceptable.

“There’s mass every morning, she doesn’t need to go to funerals,” she said.

“She’s only going when there’s a cheap lunch.

“She intrudes on people when they are upset and sad.”