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DUBLIN (Reuters) - An elderly Irishwoman shared a room with her sister's corpse for up to a year and sometimes slept with it in the same bed, newspapers reported Tuesday.
Mary Ellen Lyons never told anyone that her sister Agnes had died, the reports said. Even their brother Michael, who lived in the same remote bungalow in rural western Ireland, did not know.
An inquest heard Monday that Agnes probably died in 2002 -- possibly in September -- at the age of 70.
However, her body was only discovered in August 2003 when Mary Ellen fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.
"I have tried to remember when Agnes died but I just can't remember," Mary Ellen said in a statement read out at the inquest. "I remember getting Christmas cards at Christmas 2002 but I cannot remember if Agnes was dead at the time."
The inquest heard the three siblings lived in "a world apart" and that the sisters were deeply religious.
After Agnes' death, Mary Ellen sometimes slept in the same double bed as the corpse and sometimes in the bathroom. Michael stayed in his own bedroom and the living room of the tiny house and never entered his sisters' room.
"There is no way that Michael would open the door of a woman's room," a neighbor told the inquest. "They wouldn't even watch the television if there was a woman on it. They were from a different era."
Mary Ellen Lyons never told anyone that her sister Agnes had died, the reports said. Even their brother Michael, who lived in the same remote bungalow in rural western Ireland, did not know.
An inquest heard Monday that Agnes probably died in 2002 -- possibly in September -- at the age of 70.
However, her body was only discovered in August 2003 when Mary Ellen fell ill and had to be taken to hospital.
"I have tried to remember when Agnes died but I just can't remember," Mary Ellen said in a statement read out at the inquest. "I remember getting Christmas cards at Christmas 2002 but I cannot remember if Agnes was dead at the time."
The inquest heard the three siblings lived in "a world apart" and that the sisters were deeply religious.
After Agnes' death, Mary Ellen sometimes slept in the same double bed as the corpse and sometimes in the bathroom. Michael stayed in his own bedroom and the living room of the tiny house and never entered his sisters' room.
"There is no way that Michael would open the door of a woman's room," a neighbor told the inquest. "They wouldn't even watch the television if there was a woman on it. They were from a different era."
