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Neighbours believed a girl not seen publicly for 3 years was agoraphobic.
Nevertheless, she had died and was saved in a freezer by her son.
Christopher Phillips, 60, was sentenced on Monday after admitting to storing his 89-year-old mom Silvia in the lounge of their house in Poplar Crescent, Porthcawl.
He additionally fraudulently claimed over £78,000 in advantages following her dying.
Phillips, described by residents as ‘quiet’ and somebody who ‘saved himself to himself’, had reportedly defined his mom’s lack of public appearances by claiming she was ‘agoraphobic’ – a situation generally related to a worry of open areas or leaving the home.
They mentioned: “I don’t know the way many individuals knew about that or the place that got here from. That’s the one factor we ever type of knew about them.
“It simply appears to be a really unhappy story. I don’t personally suppose he was a foul man, I don’t suppose he was effectively.
“It’s loopy and I feel it’s a failure of our group to be trustworthy, myself included, that we didn’t actually talk sufficient with him.
“It strikes me as fairly a failure that we as a type of group of neighbours didn’t change into conscious of it sooner, so I type of remorse that.
“He didn’t strike me as somebody who was tremendous bizarre, he simply got here throughout as somebody quiet. It’s worrying the way it went underneath the radar.”
The courtroom heard Phillips had left work to change into a full-time carer for his mom within the months main as much as her dying in March 2023.
Following her dying, for which the trigger stays unknown, Phillips bought a chest freezer and used this to retailer her physique inside the lounge of the property.
The courtroom heard the physique was coated with a leopard print throw and located alongside roses and a birthday card, studying “To Mum, from Christopher and Tina”, a reference to the household canine.
One other neighbour mentioned it was “creepy” to study that the physique of Ms Phillips had been frozen in the lounge of the property for years.
“We’ve been right here 10 years and we’ve solely seen (Phillips) about 3 times,” they added.
“We had no concept that (his mom) was residing there.”
One other neighbour mentioned: “It’s a shock, I assume, it’s a pleasant road.
“He was fairly quiet, he saved himself to himself.”
“Maybe that was his means of coping with issues,” one other mentioned.
“Maybe he simply couldn’t grieve in the way in which most individuals do.”
The physique of Ms Phillips was discovered by law enforcement officials in February after issues for her welfare have been raised by the medical observe she beforehand attended.
Phillips acquired a complete of £78,190.92 in state pension, pensions credit score, attendance allowance, winter gasoline funds, cost-of-living funds and housing profit funds, which might have ceased had Ms Phillips’ dying been reported.
On Monday, Decide Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, sentenced him to 2 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
