Pensioner ‘kept wife’s dead body for years because he was lonely’

A MAN who kept his wife’s body in their home for years may have been unable to come to terms with her death, it emerged yesterday.

Daniel Malley, 78, is believed to have told police he was ‘extremely lonely’.

The remains of his late wife, Christina Malley, were discovered on February 25, when nurses visited their home after she missed her Covid-19 vaccination.

Mr Malley kept her death a secret for years by telling anyone who asked how she was that she was abroad.

Neighbours in Cove, Aberdeen, said they had no idea that she was in the house but saw Mr Malley when he would go to get his daily paper from a nearby shop. Malley’s death is being treated as ‘unexplained’, but police are looking into claims her death was natural and that her husband did not want to be alone in the house without her.

‘Mr Malley said she had died of natural causes “a few years ago”,’ a source told the Scottish Sun.

‘He told officers he was still coming to terms with the loss and was extremely lonely. He couldn’t accept she had gone – he couldn’t let her go. He kept the body in the house because he didn’t want to be apart from his wife in life or, sadly, in death.

‘He’d told anyone who’d asked she was abroad but most neighbours didn’t know she existed.’

One man, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘My daughter has lived on the street for about a year.

‘I never once saw a woman. You would see Danny now and then going to the shop for his paper. I was digging some fence posts last Thursday and it was two district nurses I saw. They asked me if I knew the woman in that house.

‘I thought they meant the next one over. I told them I’d never seen a woman at that house. The blinds were always closed.’

A post-mortem examination is being carried out to establish the cause of death. A police spokesMrs man said: ‘The death is being treated as unexplained and inquiries are ongoing.

‘A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.’

The case has prompted a crosspolitical call for more support for the elderly, especially during the Covid crisis.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘Loneliness, already an issue before the pandemic, has been exacerbated. A loneliness or tackling loneliness awareness campaign will be part of what we do.

‘Now more than ever is a time to be thinking of elderly people or people who are alone in our own networks, whether it’s neighbours, friends, family members, and how we can reach out and help.

‘I absolutely endorse the promotion of the Age Scotland helpline, 0800 12 44 222.’