Post mortem result of woman left dead in house for weeks

12:30pm Wednesday 19th November 2008

A MAN questioned over the death of a woman found hanging in her Hampshire home has this morning been released on bail.

The body of a woman in her 50s was discovered at a house in Bramble Walk, Lymington. It is understood detectives are investigating whether her death was the result of a failed suicide pact.

Police were last night questioning a man, also in his 50s, amid reports that the corpse could have been there for up to eight weeks.

Officers confirmed he had now been released on bail and that he was due to report to Lyndhurst Police station in February.

Meanwhile a post-mortem examination conducted yesterday found that the woman died as a result of a ligature to the neck.

Formal identification procedures have yet to be completed and police say they are unable to confirm the woman's name.

Last night neighbours spoke of their horror at learning that the corpse could have been there for up to two months.

A pensioner living a few doors away said: “I’m horrified – absolutely staggered that such a thing could happen.”

Another neighbour commented: “If what I’ve heard is right he must have lived with a corpse for two months. It’s pretty staggering, almost unbelievable.”

A woman living next door to the couple’s home said her husband and eldest son had noticed a strange smell in the past few weeks.

She added: “We had a visit from a CID officer who said a woman had died in what he described as unnatural circumstances.

“They were a very private couple who always used to go out together and seemed very close.”

Another neighbour said: “After the police arrived on Monday, one of the officers assured me it was not too serious. He described it as a personal issue.”

The woman is reported to have hanged herself in an upstairs bedroom at the couple’s rented end-of-terrace house.

Anita Ross, who lives at the other end of Bramble Walk, said: “We’ve lived here for two years and I think I’ve seen the woman on only two or three occasions in all that time.

“I’d glance up and see her getting in or out of the car.

“The kids and I went round there trick or treating on Hallowe’en.

He answered the door and there was a woman sitting in the lounge but I don’t know who it was.”

Some residents said they thought they had seen the woman more recently than September.

Last night the couple’s maroon coloured Fiesta Ghia was parked outside the three-bedroom property.

All the lights at the property remained on, having been left on by the forensics experts who spent most of Monday examining the house and taking photographs of the interior.