Fortune hung on hidden death

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 25

Fortune hung on hidden death

From ROBIN CHARTERIS in London

An eccentric hermit who lived in squalor, in spite of holding shares worth more than $1 million, hid his mother’s body for 13 years, continuing to draw her pension.

The Kings Lynn Crown Court was told that Billy Cox, aged 63, of Littleport, kept his mother’s body walled up for seven years in her bedroom, then wheeled it on a butcher’s bike to a nearby shed. Later, he buried it in the garden. All the time he drew her pension, more than $25,000, which had accrued since his mother, Mrs Eliza Cox, died aged 74, in 1972. The Court heard that Cox had carried on his grisly charade in a desperate bid to keep the family fortune. His parents had split up years before, and his father left six farms, houses and share investments to Cox’s sister, who was “missing” in the United States.

Cox, who had power of attorney to control the estate for his mother, knew he would forfeit everything if she died, so he hid her death, and kept investing the interest and the pension. As well as the shares, Cox held bank and building society accounts with more than $140,000.

He was found guilty on four charges of obstructing the coroner, and preventing the burial of his mother’s body. He was remanded in custody for medical and psychiatric reports. Cox also faces a High Court battle with his sister, Jessica, over the family wealth. She had alerted police after years of trying to contact her mother from the United States. s===SH=Hr