ROME -- A man has been arrested in Sarroch, Cagliari after police discovered he had hidden his mother’s dead body in the freezer to keep withdrawing her pension, Il Fatto Quotidiano has reported on Wednesday.

 Sandro Mallus, 54, was arrested by police on suspicion of concealment of a dead body and fraud. His mother, 78-year-old Rosanna Pilloni, had reportedly been kept in the freezer of the home she shared with her son for up to two years. According to initial examinations, Pilloni died of natural causes but had been stored in the freezer by Mallus so he could carry on withdrawing her pension.

 In the coming days, police will speak to the family doctor and neighbours of the property to question why suspicions over Pilloni’s disappearance had not been previously raised. Police will also speak to Mallus’s brother, who currently lives abroad. An autopsy on Pilloni’s body is set to be carried out on Friday.

 bq