Article: In a bleak room, in a nondescript semi, in a faceless suburb, a girl shut herself away for 14 years

Karen Morgan lived like a "medieval monk", retreating from the world into her bedroom for 14 years. When her body was found, her legs were so wasted and twisted she was incapable of walking.

She slept on filthy floorboards in a bare room, from where she dominated her parents and her brother, Russell, so much that when she died aged 29 they decided to join her in death. But their suicide pact failed.

Schoolfriends, neighbours, relatives - even her father and brother - had all been shunned when the shutters came down inside Karen's mind. A bucket used as a toilet became her only furniture. By the time of her death in April, her self-isolation was nearly complete. For the previous eight years ...

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