William Lyttle, aka the Mole Man of Hackney, dies

THE eccentric known as The Mole Man, who spent 40 years digging a 60-foot network of tunnels beneath his £1 million Hackney house, has died without repaying the £350,000 of taxpayers' money he owes the council for saving it from collapse.

And town hall chiefs, who re-housed William Lyttle in a top-floor flat, have been landed with an even costlier repair bill after it was discovered the oddball pensioner had carried out some of his unorthodox "home improvements" there, too.

The 79-year-old had knocked a huge, tunnel-shaped hole in the dividing wall of the living room and kitchen of the flat in St Lawrence Court on the De Beauvoir estate.

He'd been moved to it in 2009 following his eviction in 2006 on safety grounds from his ramshackle, detached, four-storey, 20-room Victorian property in De Beauvoir on the corner of Stamford Road and Mortimer Road, De Beauvoir.

Before he was re-housed the council had put him up in a hotel at a cost of £45,000.

The body of the former electrical engineer, who gained worldwide fame and notoriety for his tunnelling exploits, is believed to have lain undiscovered at his flat for several weeks.

He is thought to have died from natural causes. A post mortem concluded there were no suspicious circumstances.

His dilapidated former home is still surrounded by scaffolding and corrugated sheeting costing the council £70,000 alone.

The structurally unsafe building had been on the brink of collapse and there were fears the road outside, which he had burrowed beneath, could cave in.

Before the operation to salvage it by pouring concrete into the tunnels, workmen had to remove skiploads of accumulated junk, including the rusty wrecks of four Renault Four cars, a boat, scrap metal, old baths, disused fridge freezers and old TV sets.

Contractors also had to take away 20 metric tons of spoil he had excavated.

The council had already been involved in a lengthy court battle with Mr Lyttle to recoup the cost of repairs as well as £10,000 legal costs.

His death could potentially further delay recovery of the money because the council will have to await the process of probate and whether My Lyttle has any heirs or other claims on his estate.

Police have been unable to trace his next of kin and have appealed to anyone who has information about his relatives to contact them.

via Hackney Gazette - Mole Man of Hackney dies.