By Samantha Jones-
A coroner has recorded an open verdict in the death of a Romford woman who had not seen her family for 12 years. The coroner said her body was so decomposed it was impossible to determine her cause of death.
Care assistant, Janet Mary Ashley, 55, was found partly skeletalised at her home in Hailsham Road on January 14. She did not have a great relationship with her family, but members of her family declined to give details to this publication as to why nobody had checked on her during those many years.
Graeme Irvine, senior coroner for east London, said Miss Ashley’s brother had informed the coroner’s service that she had not been in contact with her family for 12 years.The former care home assistant’s remains were discovered when a neighbour called the police to raise concerns for her welfare. Alarm was raised after neighbours discovered flies coming out of her window, and had not set eyes on her for months.
The neighbour described Miss Ashley to police as a woman who “doesn’t go out much and keeps herself to herself”.
The coroner said police forced entry to Miss Ashley’s home and were “greeted with the smell of decomposition”, said Mr Irvine. Police found no evidence of anybody having entered the property prior to their arrival. She was identified on grounds that she was the sole registered occupant of the property.
“It seems to me that the ID here is perhaps not the clearest, but I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the deceased was Janet Mary Ashley,” Mr Irvine told the temporary coroners’ court at Barking Adult College, Ripple Road.
Police found no evidence of anybody having entered the property prior to their arrival.
A post-mortem examination at Queen’s Hospital mortuary found “advanced decomposition and changes consistent with mummification”, which Mr Irvine said was normal when a body decomposes in a dry environment.
There was no evidence of any external injuries, and while the examination found atherosclerosis – a hardening or thickening of the arteries – and possible cirrhosis of the liver, Mr Irvine said the cause of death was “unascertained due to advanced decompositional change”.