Pensioner lay dead in flat for five years

The body of a pensioner has been found in a tenement flat in Edinburgh where it may have lain for up to five years. Isabella Purves, who owned the flat, would have been 90 this year.

Police officers, who are appealing for relatives to get in touch, made the discovery as they investigated a water leak on Tuesday. They had to push past a large volume of mail to enter the flat in Rodney Street in the Cannonmills area. The death is not being treated as suspicious. It is understood the pensioner may have been paying her bills by direct debit.



Cleo Gifford, 34, whose family lived opposite Ms Purves for 18 years, said she was saddened and shocked by the news. She said: "In all the 18 years we lived there, Ms Purves never had one visitor, it was a wee shame. She was always cleaning her brasses and keeping the stair clean and would go out hiking. She was very fit and only became frail in later years.

"She was an old-fashioned lady, quite a Miss Marple, Morningside-type, but not glam - no pearls or twin sets, but she would wear thick tights and long skirts and was always very well turned out. I think it is tragic that someone can be deceased for such a long period of time and not be found, it is really sad."



Ms Purves's 44-year-old postman said: "I only met her once in the 10 years I have been delivering her mail. She never got much mail, it was only occasional, so that's why I didn't suspect anything.

"There was no smell from her door. I am very shocked and saddened that she has been lying there so long."