Fears body of elderly woman lay in Aberdeen home ‘for 12 years’

Nurses found remains when checking why 80-year-old missed her Covid vaccine appointment

A Google Maps screenshot shows the property on Allison Close in Cove, Aberdeen (Google Maps)

A pensioner whose remains were discovered in the home she shared with her husband may have died up to 12 years ago.

The woman, named locally as Christina Malley, was only found on 25 February after nurses attended the property in Cove, Aberdeen, to enquire why she had not shown up to her allotted Covid vaccine slot.

Ms Malley’s husband is understood to have said his wife was out of the country when asked, according to various reports in Scotland’s regional media.

But her body was later discovered inside the property, sparking a police investigation.

The death of the pensioner, who would have been in her 80s, is being treated by detectives as unexplained.

Officers are currently trying to determine exactly when and how she died, but Aberdeen’s Evening Express newspaper said on Tuesday, based on new information it had seen, this could be as far back as 2009.

One neighbour told the Daily Record she had “lived across from them for years and didn’t even know [Mrs Malley] lived there at all”.

Police Scotland has released little information about the case, but said inquiries into the circumstances remain “ongoing”.

An initial statement, which was released last week, said: “Officers were called to an address in Allison Close, Aberdeen, on Thursday (25 February) after the body of a woman was found within.

“The death is being treated as unexplained and inquiries are ongoing. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

Malley’s ground floor property has been boarded up while forensic officers examine it for more evidence.