THE daughter of a pensioner who starved to death has hit back at claims she neglected her.

Sandra Murphy, the youngest daughter of the 79-year-old Ivy Allen, says she also feels the national press is persecuting her.

Mrs Allen's body was found at her home in Avery Close, Padgate, earlier this month. It is thought she didn't have any money to buy food because her front door didn't have a letterbox and the postman couldn't deliver her pension.

Sandra told the Warrington Guardian: "I feel like I've been made out to be an evil, cruel person who neglected my mother, but it's just not like that."

Sandra, aged 42 of Brook Avenue, Latchford, said: "I hoped that after the funeral I could start grieving for my mother, but I'm going through hell.

"I'm frightened to leave the house for fear of people pointing the finger at me.

"My mum was mentally ill, but even before that she was always fiercely independent. It's quite possible that she refused help from the authorities.

"I'm not laying the blame at anyone's door, we are all at fault in some way, but I feel like it's become personal and that I've become a scapegoat.

"You have to look at the circumstances and remember that my mum was never in the house.

"Any attempts to visit her were in vain as I could only go during the day and had two jobs in the evening.

"I was very concerned about her mental state and tried to get her help, but was told she'd have to see a doctor first and she refused to go."

Sandra said her family was not close, but that she had seen quite a lot of her mother in the past.

"I've not spoken to a number of my siblings for a decade, but I feel that out of all of us, I was probably the one that gave mum the most time.

"When mum's husband, Jim O'Hara, was still alive, I'd have them over for Sunday lunch or take them to Southport for the day.

"We all tried with her - we'd go round to the flat but she wouldn't be in or we'd arrange to meet and she wouldn't turn up.

"If the authorities say they couldn't catch my mother at home, then what makes them think we didn't have the same problem?"

Mrs Allen had 10 children, one of whom, Stella, died 10 years ago. She also had 30 grandchildren.

sharker@guardiangrp.co.uk