Elderly shopaholic killed by purchases

STOCKPORT, England, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An elderly Englishwoman with a shopping compulsion was buried so deep in unopened purchases that it took police two days to find her body, officials said.

Joan Cunnane, 77, was fatally injured when a pile of electrical appliances, suitcases and other objects came down on her, The Sun reported. Her body was discovered Wednesday in her bungalow in Stockport near Manchester.

Roy Moran, the friend who reported her missing, described her as a compulsive shopper throughout the 16 years he had known her. He said she once told him she had 300 scarves.

"I asked her why she needed that many," he said. "She said they were all different colors. She went to John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and shopping malls because they are open late so she didn't have to go home."

Cunnane was the second pensioner this week to be found dead from a hoarding compulsion. Gordon Stewart, 74, is believed to have been killed by dehydration when he could not find his way in a maze of tunnels through clutter in his home in Broughton in Buckinghamshire.