THE grieving family of a woman who lived in sheltered accommodation and died last month are furious after returning from her funeral to find strangers looking at the property. Edith Stares had been living in Forder, Saltash before she died on March 7. Her funeral was held ten days later, but when members of Mrs Stares' family returned to the property they were heartbroken to find prospective tenants having a look at the bungalow from the outside. 'I was so cross I couldn't approach them,' said Mrs Stares' daughter, Kim Kernohan. Although the family could have kept the property for four weeks after Mrs Stares' death, they decided to return the keys to Caradon District Council last week. But the council had already advertised the property on the internet and in a newspaper on the day of the funeral. Caradon has issued an apology to the family. Adrian Pengelly, Housing Operations Manager, said: 'We are very sympathetic to the whole situation, we want to make things as easy as possible. 'We advertised the property but the people who were looking at it did not come through us. 'It could have been that they had local knowledge and looked at it off their own back.' Mr Pengelly said there was a balancing act between one resident moving out and another moving in but was apologetic over the timing. Mrs Stares had lived in Forder for 64 years after being evacuated from London during the war.
