AN ELDERLY woman who treasured her pet cat above anything else has left almost £1million in her will to a charity for homeless and ill treated moggies. Edna Scott's stunned neighbours have described the 83-year-old as a "real English lady," and a "great character".

Miss Scott lived in Cornwallis Road, Maidstone, for more than 20 years but her private life was something of a mystery even to her closest friends. She lived alone and rarely talked about her family. She only learned to drive in her 70s and made weekly trips to the shops in a little old car.

Neighbours knew she owned a large house in London's upmarket Holland Park, but were amazed to learn it was worth close to a million pounds and that most of the money had been left to the Cats Protection League.

Miss Scott, who died in March last year, has just had her last will and testament published. It was drawn up in 1993. She left £1.2 million, much of which was made up of property.

In it, she made provision for her beloved cat Bluie to be cared for after her death. She bequeathed her house in Cornwallis Road to lifelong friends on the condition that they looked after Bluie. The blue Siamese cat died before Miss Scott, however, and the house will go to the RSPCA when her friends die. She also left land in Somerset to the World Wildlife Fund.

Although Miss Scott left large sums of money to several friends, there was no mention of any immediate family and she never spoke of any.

Miss Scott served with the Red Cross in the Second World War and worked with Lady Mountbatten in repatriation camps in India helping Japanese prisoners of war. After the war she was a lecturer at the English Speaking Union in London. She retired in Maidstone in the 70s and she had an aunt who lived in nearby Tonbridge Road who was matron at the old Oakwood Park Hospital.

A spokesman for the Cats Protection League said: "We are extremely grateful for this money. It was a wonderful gesture."