As it happened, the smell vanished as soon as the place warmed up, and it was her husband who performed all the tasks: lighting the stubborn Rayburn stove and forcing open the kitchen window, activating the bathroom plumbing and disposing of the broken-backed mice in the traps.

NEWYORKER: Hand on the Shoulder

He added the house "has been vandalised to a very bad extent: all of the wiring has been taken out, there's no plumbing, there's no heating system, the kitchen has been removed, and the bathroom is an absolute mess".

BBC: Stockton house sells for ?14,000 at auction