SHE lay dead for four months and nobody knew.

An inquest has heard how the mummified remains of a Southampton woman were found by horrified gas workers when they stormed her house to claim unpaid bills.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that British Gas staff discovered Deborah Morrell in her bedroom at least four months after she died.

Pathologist Dr Bryan Green said the 51-year-old’s body had decomposed so much that they could not determine how she died, but it would have been around Christmas.

Miss Morrell lived alone at her flat in Hartington Road where police had been two weeks before she was discovered to a concern for welfare call, but did not enter the property after neighbours said she was away.

PC Griffiths said that officers had decided not to force the door at that time but he and his colleague PC Young were called on March 27 by the gas workers and had to kick open the bedroom door where they found Miss Morrell.

Daily Echo:

He said: “We had a call from the gas board, they’d had a warrant for payment. We found the flat was very, very dirty, untidy, dusty, mouldy and very poor state throughout, not particularly pleasant. There was no food in the kitchen.

“The gas workers had got into the house but struggled to open the door and thought it was locked from the inside so were concerned and called us.

PC Griffiths added: “It was just a stiff door. There were no signs of a break in. When we got into the bedroom there was a body in the bed which was obviously deceased.”

PC Griffiths also told the coroner they found piles of unopened post, which included Christmas cards, as well as vodka bottles lining her living room floor and they did not know how far in debt she was with British Gas.

He also confirmed that Miss Morrell would have been dead in her property two weeks before when officers had been called to a concern for welfare.

He said: “We contacted Miss Morrell’s mother who was upset to hear the news but she told us they had not had contact for a long time.”

Assistant coroner for Central Hampshire, Simon Burge read a report from Miss Morrell’s doctor at Alma Medical Centre which revealed she had a history of alcohol abuse and was taking anti-depressants, but did not renew her prescription last year.

Dr Green added that there could be a chance Miss Morrell died because of alcohol abuse but said there was no evidence to support that.

Mr Burge gave an open verdict into her death and said: “She was deceased for several months. I have no reason to suspect foul play or any unnatural cause of death.”

Miss Morrell lives in a first floor flat just around the corner of St Alban’s Road in St Mary’s and her neighbours told the Daily Echo she was “a very quiet but very friendly lady.”

Leonard Reeves, 80 said: “She was always very nice and said hello but she did keep to herself. We never really saw anyone visit her. We hadn’t seen her for a long time and just assumed she had gone away but then when the gas workers came we heard them call a locksmith and then police came and found a body.

“It’s very sad, I’m shocked no one was close enough to her to realise.”