Estate agents cleaning up three homes when their elderly owner died faced the incredible task of moving 40 tonnes of clothes and jumble she had hoarded down the years.

It cost £7,500 in labour and skip hire to remove all the items, including a double-glazed window which Freda Jones may have removed from a builder's skip.

Miss Jones died in December 1997, and estate agents Stephenson & Son were asked to clean up the properties by the Treasury Solicitor as no relatives could be found.

Partner Ian Reynolds said she had filled her original home in Chestnut Avenue, off Stockton Lane, then bought another one in

Dewsbury Terrace and filled that, before moving to a flat in Trinity Court, Bishophill, which was also well on the way to being full.Mr Reynolds said he had never seen anything like it in 20 years of antique sales and house clearance.

In Dewsbury Terrace his men could open the front door about a foot and had to squeeze their way in, clearing items as they went.

The problems were not just inside the house, as it proved impossible to reach a leaking gutter until the yard was cleared.

"It was yards deep in rubbish, the yard was absolutely full of junk," he said.

Neighbours had told them Miss Jones used to bring home leftover items from jumble sales.

In Trinity Court a man said he had seen her taking items from a builder's skip, which the discovery of a double-glazed window seemed to confirm.

Sadly, the contents of Miss Jones's homes have had to be thrown away.

Full details of the mammoth clearance task and the auction sale of the homes on January 28 are in the Property Reviews in our Residential PropertyHunter.

see COMMENT 'Chuck it out'

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