A quiet Fishponds nurse who died last year found herself at the centre of a political scandal yesterday after leaving more than half a million pounds in her will to the government of the day.

After initially accepting the money, both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats gave their share of the £520,000 donation to the Treasury following criticism that they had accepted the money for party political purposes.

Joan Edwards, who lived in Acton Road, was born in Bristol in 1921 and lived in the city all her life but never married.

The Guardian tracked down her neighbours, one of whom said that “she would have hated all this fuss”.

Lucy Sanders, who lived next door to Edwards for 13 years, said: “She was an unusual lady. Victorian is the best way to describe her. She was old-fashioned and not at all materialistic. She had the original 1930s kitchen in her house. She didn’t want a fancy new one.”