A bereaved son has hit back at the Government's TV Licensing department for sending threatening

letters to his dead mum -- by sending letters from her back to them.

David Brewis' mum Dorothy passed away from a stroke in November 2017 and he let TV Licensing know.

But the agency has sent seven letters to her old home since last July.

David, who lives in Windsor, decided his late mum had better reply.

His letter said: "I'm afraid I'm still dead and there's nobody living here. My son will let you know if that changes. Please leave him alone. Yours, the late Mrs Brewis."

David said his mother's empty address in Durham received four letters from the government-run authority between July and October 2018.

They threatened the 'current occupier' with £1,000 fines if they failed to renew in time.

David responded as 'the late Mrs Brewis' in October 2018, and TV Licensing fell silent - until August.

Dorothy's old property got another three letters, each threatening legal action.

David wrote again as his late mum.

He edited the licensing authority's note, crossing out 'we understand you may be busy"' and replacing it with 'dead'.

And where they wrote 'of course, if you don't need a licence', he annotated and underlined: "Because you're dead".

Another of his replies said: "As my son has told you - several times now - I am, unfortunately, dead.

"He will let you know if either I come back to life and start watching TV again, or if anyone else starts living here.

"In the meantime, please leave him alone. Your posthumously, Mrs Brewis."

TV Licensing has now apologised but maintained it had a duty to enquire if the properties of the deceased were still unoccupied.

A spokesperson explained: "After Mr Brewis informed us that his mother had sadly passed away we recorded the property as being unoccupied and stopped any correspondence to the address for some time.

"We have a duty to write to unoccupied properties after a period of time so we are able to establish whether it remains unoccupied or whether new residents are occupying the property."