Shopaholic’s body hidden beneath her purchases

The body of a shopaholic pensioner was discovered among a mountain of her purchases, it emerged yesterday.

Joan Cunnane, 77, was discovered by police at her home in Stockport, Greater Manchester after neighbours reported her missing.

It took an expert police search team several hours to find her body among possessions which filled her bungalow on Rosgill Close, Heaton Mersey.

She was last seen on December 26, and was reported missing by her friend Roy Moran on Tuesday.

Moran, 77, said Cunnane had been a compulsive shopper for 15 years and would sometimes sleep at his house as her home was too full of belongings.

He said: “When we looked in her house we just could not believe it — it was completely full from floor to ceiling. Everything was stacked up like a hedge and when we went in things started falling.

“She had thousands of videos stacked up, the whole place was full.”

He said Cunnane started shopping to get out of the house after a group of youths began causing trouble in the area.

He said: “Some boys were making a nuisance of themselves outside her house, and the police were informed but nothing was ever done.

“I think that’s what started the pattern of her wanting to be out of the house every day. She felt she had to do something, so she went round the shops.

“She was not just buying for the sake of buying, everything was bought for a reason. She seemed reasonably content, but did not have many close friends, it’s just a very sad story.”

A police investigation has now been launched.