A FUNERAL in memory of the late Thomas Yuill will be held on Monday more than a month after the pensioner's body was discovered at his home in Blackbird Leys.

The 82-year-old, who was found in his flat up to seven months after he last paid rent, will be remembered at the service on Monday (25/7) at Oxford Crematorium.

Family members were tracked down on behalf of Oxford City Council by genealogists Finders International and have since taken charge of funeral arrangements.

Serious questions were raised over how his body lay undiscovered for seven months in his Sorrel Road flat until June.

He is believed to have died months before, with his rent payments suddenly stopping last October having lived in his home for more than 40 years.

Council officers twice visited the house to chase missing rent payments but neither time notified emergency services about concerns for Mr Yuill's welfare. It was only after a statutory 28-day notice period issued in April by Oxford City Council had expired that they entered the property and made the discovery.

Valerie Hall, 67, of Stockton-on-Tees, had not seen her uncle for decades but said he was "a lonely man and didn't want company".

She added: "My husband and I visited him in Blackbird Leys shortly after our wedding in 1973, when he was still living with his wife.

"His first love was the army; he was devoted to the army."

In recent weeks a picture has begun to emerge of the late Thomas Scott Yuill, who was born the fifth of six children in Scotland in February 1934.

At the age of 18 he served as a Corporal in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps for 22 years, serving in Egypt and Cyprus and leaving around the time of the Suez Crisis.

Military records reveal Corporal Yuill's "exemplary conduct" and also note that he received an operational medal for general service in Cyprus.

His daughter, Karen, was born in 1965 and died in 2009 and his wife Mabel died in 2011. Finders spokeswoman Kirsty How said he is survived by two brothers, and several nephews and nieces.

When his body was discovered neighbour Gemma Woodthorpe said she had never known Mr Yuill to have visitors.

She said: "He kept himself to himself and was friendly but didn't have an awful lot to say."

In the aftermath of his death described by the council as a 'distressing case', the city council older people's champion Gill Sanders said she had been researching ways to make isolated older people in council accommodation feel more secure. She said: "Mr Yuill was a regular rent payer so in future, if we have someone elderly, vulnerable or disabled who suddenly with no explanation stops paying, it should be investigated. Officers went to his flat but didn't gain access until the very end."