Two obsessive hoarders were found buried under a mountain of clutter at their country cottage – with the mother dead and her daughter collapsed under the debris (Picture: Wales News Service)

The body of an obsessive hoarder has been found in mountains of rubbish at the country cottage they shared.

Reclusive Gaynor Jones, 87, has been dead for up to four years. Her body was only discovered after her daughter collapsed under the debris in their cluttered home.

Her daughter Valerie Jones is lucky to be alive after police sifted through huge piles of clutter and hoarded possessions in their home after the alarm was raised by neighbours.

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Valerie, believed to be in her 50s, was discovered collapsed under mounds of papers.


The property was so packed with clutter that it took officers a further four days to find the remains of her widowed mother in another part of the cottage at Aberaeron, West Wales.



Neighbours believe her daughter had been sharing the house with her dead mother for ‘many months or even years’.

They said the mother and daughter were ‘well known’ but ‘odd’ and rarely left their old stone cottage, which had been in their family for around a century.

It’s believed the mother was dead for around four years (Picture: Wales News Service)

One woman said: ‘I think the mother was born there herself, so the cottages have been in her families hands for about a century.

‘They were well known, not for being seen about, but as the old Welsh family who kept themselves to themselves. They were very reclusive.

‘You certainly wouldn’t pop over for a cup of tea. I guess you could describe them as odd.’

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Valerie and Gaynor were mainly Welsh speakers, and rarely mixed with elderly English neighbours who had moved into to the quiet country town.

One neighbour said he’d not had sight of the women in four years.

Valerie was severely dehydrated and taken to Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth after police acted on a tip-off from neighbours who raised concerns for their welfare.

Another neighbour said: ‘They are a well-known Aberaeron family who keep themselves to themselves and certainly do not seem to welcome visitors.

Neighbours said the pair were extremely reclusive (Picture: Wales News Service)

‘Valerie is a single woman who has been living alone with her mother since her father passed away several years ago. What has happened there is all a bit of a mystery.’

Local county councillor Elizabeth Evans said she had known Mrs Jones and her daughter all her life.

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‘The most important thing at the moment is that Valerie is safe and in hospital,’ she said.

A police spokesperson said: ‘Dyfed-Powys Police received a report concerning the welfare of two women from the Aberaeron area.

‘On police attendance at the property one female was taken to hospital. Following a search of the property the remains of a body have been found. The death is currently being treated as unexplained.’

Police say Ceredigion coroner Peter Brrunton has been informed and an inquest is due to be opened.