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Mystery 'Mourner' Gatecrashes Funerals For 14 Years For Free Buffet

Mystery 'Mourner' Gatecrashes Funerals For 14 Years For Free Buffet

And the priest can't stop her.

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

We all love a good spread. A wedding, a christening, a birthday party. Who doesn't love a good buffet?

From mini-sausage rolls to a slice of quiche. Or how about a cheese and pineapple hedgehog (retro)?

For most of us they probably a bi-annual delight at best, but for one mourner they are a regular treat as she attends funerals for the buffet at the wake after.

The unnamed woman has been doing this for 14 years, and even chats to grieving family members. On one recent occasion, she was seen putting away the food 'like there is no tomorrow'.

She's known to the local priest, who says she feels it is her 'duty to attend as many church masses as possible', but he can't turn her away as he can't exactly say 'you can't come here'.

Credit: Google Maps

Father Noah Connolly, of the Holy Redeemer Church in Slough, Berkshire, told the Mirror: "Every funeral we have she comes and if there is a reception afterwards she makes her way to it without invitation.

"She is a Catholic woman and she is convinced she needs to go to as many masses as possible. She has been coming and going since I have been here for the past 14 years."

The mystery mourner was recently confronted at a wake by a mother who'd lost her daughter to a rare illness.

Catherine Whitehead died at the age of 42 after living with Addison's disease - a endocrine disorder in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough steroid hormones.

Three weeks after she passed, family and friends held a funeral where the unknown woman turned up on a bike and began chatting to the guests.

Catherine's mum, Margaret, said: "She got my son Kevin to give her a lift from the church to the Irish Centre for the wake.

"There were a lot of people at the funeral from Catherine's work so I assume she was a colleague.

"When I spoke to her though she told me she used to work with Catherine as a waitress. My daughter never worked as a waitress.

"She was eating from the buffet like there was no tomorrow."

Credit: PA

Margaret felt that the woman's behaviour was intrusive and unacceptable.

She added: "There's mass every morning, she doesn't need to go to funerals. She's only going when there's a cheap lunch. She intrudes on people when they are upset and sad."

This woman obviously mourns without charge; however, it is possible to pay for mourners at a funeral.

Essex-based company rentamourner.co.uk can provide people to attend funerals, wakes or both.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Funeral