{"id":216988,"date":"2023-11-27T11:42:43","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T11:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/?p=216988"},"modified":"2023-11-27T11:42:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T11:42:43","slug":"is-this-britains-worst-hoarder-bodies-of-cats-found-among-belongings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestwnews.com\/world-news\/is-this-britains-worst-hoarder-bodies-of-cats-found-among-belongings\/","title":{"rendered":"Is THIS Britain&apos;s worst hoarder? Bodies of cats found among belongings"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Is THIS Britain&#8217;s worst hoarder? Bodies of mummified cats are discovered in among piles of belongings left in home &#8211; as cleaners say it is the &#8216;worst case&#8217; they have ever seen<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The extreme case was uncovered after the male homeowner in his 70 died\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>**CONTENT WARNING: Some readers may find images upsetting **\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bodies of mummified cats were discovered among piles of belongings by cleaners sent in to tackle a hoarder&#8217;s home in the &#8216;worst case&#8217; they have ever seen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Workers were left horrified after making the startling discovery in a house in Lancashire, that was\u00a0stuffed to the rafters with junk including old kitchen appliances, newspapers, stacked storage boxes and office furniture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was so rammed full of belongings that a ladder was needed to climb through the second storey window as piles of rubbish were blocking all other entrances.<\/p>\n<p>Among the rotting debris were the bodies of up to four pet cats, which had been put on shelves and wrapped in newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>The extreme case was uncovered after the male homeowner, in his late 70s, who lived in the property alone, died without any known close family.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed he was hoarding for upwards of three decades, experts said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273179-12795131-image-a-1_1701079448992.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>BEFORE: A ladder was needed to climb through the second storey window as piles of rubbish were blocking all other entrances<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273191-12795131-image-a-2_1701079484977.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>BEFORE: The home was stuffed to the rafters with junk including old kitchen appliances, newspapers, stacked storage boxes and office furniture<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273203-12795131-image-a-8_1701079558856.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AFTER: It took the cleaning\u00a0 team from the firm 45 hours to make some headway on the case<\/p>\n<p>The teams were tasked with clearing the home in February, but were barely able to enter the unkempt property at first.<\/p>\n<p>It took the a team from the firm 45 hours to make some headway on the case, with the home packed with such a huge volume of rubbish, they were unable to enter the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A ladder was put up to a second floor bedroom window to allow entrance and from there, they began the arduous task of removing piles of rubbish in dozens of skips.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Heir hunting company Blanchards, based in Kent, who hunted down relatives of the homeowner, described the case as &#8216;heartbreaking.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>One said: &#8216;It was one of our saddest and most memorable cases.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have cleared hundreds of properties and never have I seen hoarding be so bad that I have had to climb a ladder and enter through the upstairs window as all other entrances were blocked.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Eventually heirs for him were found &#8211; second cousins twice removed who did not know him.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that the man had plans to start a phone exchange business, which is where the hoarding began in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273183-12795131-image-a-9_1701079569967.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>BEFORE: Storage boxes and plastic bags filled with rubbish were piled up to the ceiling in the home packed with junk<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273197-12795131-image-m-14_1701081050380.jpg\" height=\"834\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>BEFORE: A narrow staircase was also used to store items creating a hazard for trips and falls<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/11\/78273181-12795131-Rubbish_could_be_seen_covering_the_entire_landing_with_boxes_of_-a-1_1701083366158.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>BEFORE: Rubbish could be seen covering the entire landing with boxes of old telephone equipment and other items with little to no value\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273199-12795131-image-a-5_1701079526609.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Dead plants were discovered in the property amongst other rotting bits of debris at the home<\/p>\n<p>Much of the house was jam-packed full of old phone equipment which he didn&#8217;t get rid of when the business plan didn&#8217;t materialise.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Blanchards added: &#8216;He wanted to open a telecom museum as telecom was his previous line of work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Over the years he collected mounds of telecom technology. He began storing these telecom artifacts in containers.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273211-12795131-image-a-7_1701079545394.jpg\" height=\"408\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Bodies of three or four of the owner&#8217;s pet cats were put on shelves and wrapped in newspaper<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Then, when they were full he began filling under the floorboards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Then all of upstairs was full of boxes, then all of downstairs, and the hoarding progressed from there.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;No museum was ever opened and after 40 years the property was almost impossible to move around in, filled with rubbish and dead pets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Encountering so many cases like this, we have come to learn hoarding is a mental illness and although to most people a lot of it would be deemed as rubbish, to hoarders it is considered highly valuable and even sentimental.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A hoarding disorder is a recognised mental health condition where someone collects an excessive number of items, which may not have much monetary value, resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes they only have small pathways through their homes as the rest of the space is crammed with artefacts and rubbish.<\/p>\n<p>Some suffering with the condition may realise they have a problem but are reluctant to seek help as they may be embarrassed or ashamed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273201-12795131-image-a-10_1701079580304.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AFTER: Much of the rubbish was cleared by cleaners, a bare home with with only skeletal remains of what was a kitchen remained<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273215-12795131-image-a-11_1701079586745.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AFTER: The home looked unrecognisable after cleaners cleared out skips full of rubbish that had been hoarded over a 30-year period<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273217-12795131-image-a-12_1701079591782.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AFTER: The bathroom of the property in Lancashire\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/27\/10\/78273213-12795131-image-a-13_1701079597572.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>AFTER: Once the rubbish was removed, the extent of the damage to the property from decades of hoarding were revealed<\/p>\n<p>Hoarding can lead to unhygienic conditions and encourage rodent or insect infestations, as well as become a deadly fire risk.<\/p>\n<p>No-one knows exactly what causes the disorder but it has been linked to trauma and loss, difficult feelings, childhood experiences and a family history of the condition.<\/p>\n<p>According to mental health charity Mind: &#8216;Many of us have belongings we consider special and things we save. But this is different from hoarding.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;When you hoard, it&#8217;s because you might have emotional connections or beliefs about all your things.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This makes it very hard to get rid of anything.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12795131\/Is-Britains-worst-hoarder-Bodies-mummified-cats-discovered-piles-belongings-left-home-cleaners-say-worst-case-seen.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is THIS Britain&#8217;s worst hoarder? Bodies of mummified cats are discovered in among piles of belongings left in home &#8211; as cleaners say it is the &#8216;worst case&#8217; they have ever seen The extreme case was uncovered after the male homeowner in his 70 died\u00a0 **CONTENT WARNING: Some readers may find images upsetting **\u00a0 Bodies of mummified cats were discovered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is THIS Britain&amp;apos;s worst hoarder? 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