Junk or gems? Living with a hoarder

Clearing out the Hobdens' lounge is a daunting task

US scientists say they have pinpointed an area of the brain which controls whether a person is likely to start hoarding useless objects.

Hoarders are often unwilling to throw away their collection of anything from broken appliances to junk mail. But what is it like to live with a hoarder?

Heather Hobden has been sharing a Lincoln home with her engineer husband Mervyn and his ever-burgeoning collection of broken watches, cameras and old microscopes for more than 20 years.

Although the couple are now the sole occupiers of the four-bedroom bungalow, she says it is so crowded there is barely space to move.

"The loft is groaning, there are cracks in the walls. He won't even let me go up there any more," she told BBC News.

"It worries me that we've got hardly any room down the corridors. I worry that it's a fire risk. Then there's the health hazard because it is so full that it gets difficult to clean.

"It would be wonderful if one of those TV programmes like Cash In The Attic would come around, where they just swoop on somebody's house and clear the stuff out and sell it - but I can't see him ever agreeing to it."

"It's getting weirder and weirder, like a mad scientist's lair Heather Hobden

She says Mervyn was not like that when they first married but that it "sort of developed over the years".

"When I first met him, he was interested in old watches. None of them worked but he intended to fix one day. At least they didn't take up too much space.

"Then he started collecting old broken cameras - all useless. Even if he did fix them you can no longer get the plates or film for them."

Microscopes became the next collectable item, some of them "huge industrial monsters" that take up a lot of space.

"He's going to fix it all one day but he's nearly 60 now and he's never going to do it," Heather said.

I see other men the same - some of them worse. I know one who collects Meccano

"What should be our lounge is now his room and it's full of old broken microscopes, which come with all sorts of specimens and squidgy things.

"We've just had a hell of a job to clear the bit by the bay window to put the Christmas tree in."

"It's getting weirder and weirder, like a mad scientist's lair. You almost expect to find body parts laid out. I am a bit worried when our granddaughter comes round in case it's frightening for her."

She says her husband believes his collection will one day turn out to be valuable.

"He says it's our future, because he's lost a lot of pension. But the trouble is, the stuff's worth very little.

"E-bay is full of like-minded men trying to sell this stuff - actually my husband has bought quite a lot from there."

'Awful warning'

She says she is worried about where his collecting habit will end.

"I see other men the same - some of them worse. I know one who collects Meccano.

"His house was filled with it and then his wife died and there was no stopping him. I think it's a man thing, so what can you do?"

She says: "I once saw a story in the local paper about a man who collected so much junk that his wife left and his son left and eventually he was found dead under a pile of his own junk that had fallen on him.

"I've kept it as an awful warning to my husband of what could happen to him."