Shopaholic spinster found dead under 3ft of unopened goods

The queen of collecting: Joan Cunnane in her home, where she was buried under 3ft of goods

A spinster who obsessively hoarded clothes died in her home after a mountain of suitcases fell on her, burying her alive.

Joan Cunnane, 77, owned 300 scarves as well as thousands of trinkets and valuables.

They took up so much space in her bungalow that she had only a 2ft-wide path to get around them, and her car and garage were packed with other goods.

After she was reported missing earlier this week, it took police searching her home two days to sift through her possessions.

Miss Cunnane was eventually found buried under a 3ft pile of cases in a back bedroom where she had apparently gone in search of a favourite item.

The eccentric pensioner, who had no known family, is thought to have died of dehydration several days earlier on Boxing Day.

Yesterday, neighbours spoke of their shock at the macabre death of Miss Cunnane, a retired BT operator and devout Roman Catholic who attended church services every weekend.

Her closest friend, Roy Moran, 77, said: 'I think it just gave her pleasure to buy things - none of it was really essential. I once asked her how many scarves she had.

She said she thought about 300. I asked her why she needed that many. She said they were all different colours.

'She bought everything. It had been going on over 16 years from when she bought the property.'

Miss Cunnane had enjoyed Christmas dinner with Mr Moran, a retired hospital supplies worker, before returning to her £170,000 bungalow in Heaton Mersey, near Stockport.

Crammed: Miss Cunnane's garage was filled to the rafters

Neighbours became concerned when they did not see her for a few days while her car, which was usually piled high with bags and boxes, remained parked outside the bungalow.

She was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to attend a hospital appointment and police officers with sniffer dogs were sent to her home but failed to find her.

An expert search team and environmental health officers were also called in to help and on Wednesday evening her body was finally found buried under the suitcases.

The house was stacked with brand-new umbrellas, candles, ornaments, trinkets, clothes and electrical items, many of them unopened, as well as piles of videotapes.

Mr Moran said his friend would spend hours at branches of Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Ikea rather than spend evenings at home, which was crammed full but amazingly tidy.

'I went in three times and couldn't find her,' he said.



'There was stuff in every room - it was so bad there were concerns about the police dogs going in.

'There were thousands of videos. When I walked they all fell down. It was a deathtrap, really.

Heavy goods vehicle: Miss Cunnane even used her Metro for storage

'It took two days with two teams of six policemen putting the stuff from her house into the van. Now, they say they are going to put it all back.'

A neighbour said Miss Cunnane once asked for help in emptying her Rover Metro so it could go in for its MoT - a process which took four hours.

'I don't know how she saw out of the back of it because it was so full of stuff,' she said.

'There were six umbrellas, ornaments, pots, IKEA candle holders and an oil heater which was very heavy.'

She said Miss Cunnane was a deeply private lady who would not even open the door to the postman.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances and the missing person file had been closed.