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Boy plays for week while his mother dies on floor

 
Published Aug. 12, 1992|Updated Oct. 11, 2005

A 12-year-old London boy, relishing his new-found freedom, left his mother dying on the floor for a week while telling neighbors she was "out."

"This is a totally bizarre story," coroner Dr. John Burton said ruling that the 45-year-old woman, who was not named, died of natural causes. Doctors said she suffered a stroke.

Burton said she "would have died, anyway" but that she had lain unattended in her house for a week before suspicious neighbors ignored the son's claims that she was "just up the road" and burst into the house.

The boy told a friend who noticed the body that it was a blow-up dummy his father had bought from America. The boy used the time to invite friends home and use her money to buy them gifts and toys, the inquest was told.