An unemployed Italian man has been arrested after allegedly disguising himself as his dead mother to claim her pension, in a case dubbed the 'Mrs Doubtfire scandal'. The 56-year-old former nurse dressed in a 1970s blouse, pearl necklace and lipstick to pose as his 85-year-old mother, Graziella Dall'Oglio, at a registry office in Borgo Virgilio, northern Italy.
The scheme was uncovered when a sharp-eyed employee noticed something amiss with 'Graziella' during an attempt to renew her identity card. The mayor of Borgo Virgilio, Francesco Aporti, told local media: 'He was wearing a suit with a long skirt, lipstick on his lips, nail polish on his hands, jewellery around his neck and hands, old-fashioned earrings. But that neck, upon closer inspection, was a bit too thick, and even the wrinkles were strange.'
Police were alerted and the man was called back to the office, where he arrived again in disguise. He was taken to the police station and confessed to the fraud, which had netted nearly €53,000 ($94,000) over three years since his mother's death. A search of his home revealed the mummified body of the real Graziella, wrapped in bedsheets and a sleeping bag.
Mayor Aporti described the case as 'a very, very sad story, certainly one of great loneliness'. A postmortem will determine the cause of death, which is believed to be natural causes. The man now faces charges of fraud and concealment of a corpse.
