In February last year, detectives descended on a small village after a woman's body was discovered in a flat above an Indian takeaway.

Twelve months on from the unexplained death, with the woman's identity still a mystery and a police murder investigation ongoing, we sent reporter Rhys Griffiths back to the scene.

Arriving in Lyminge on a crisp winter's afternoon, village life is going on as normal all around.

Cars and the 17 bus to Canterbury pass along Station Road, a woman stops to drop mail into a postbox, the sound of a Fleetwood Mac song drifts from a builder's radio as he works on a house fronting the main road.

Approaching what was once the Spicy Touch Indian restaurant, you can see its signs have been taken down, the windows are screened off from prying eyes on the pavement, a 'for sale' board stands outside and the front door is filled with unopened post.

A fairly drab and depressing scene, but absolutely nothing to tell the passer-by that on Valentine's Day one year earlier the place was swarming with police officers and forensic investigators following the discovery of a woman's body in the flat above the takeaway.

Shortly after the grisly find, detectives revealed that a 36-year-old man from Deal had been arrested on suspicion of her killing. However he was subsequently released without charge, pending further investigations.

"Is everyone supposed to just not say anything about it and just pretend it didn’t happen?"

Since then the case has fallen from wider public attention – but for people living locally it remains a talking point and source of concern.

Prior to returning to the scene of the unexplained death, I spoke with one member of the community who, wishing to remain anonymous, said: "I just don’t like the idea that nothing is said."

With numerous family members living locally, they expressed concern that police appeared not to have cracked the case.

"I know a lot of people in the village who were concerned, as it was only down the road from where they live," they added.

"I'm just thinking does anyone ever mention these things again or is everyone supposed to just not say anything about it and just pretend it didn’t happen?

"I find it a bit strange in respect of the fact that nothing more has been said about it ever. I don't think it's right.

"It's almost like it's been brushed under the carpet."

The front of the building where the body was found offers little clue as to what happened here a year earlier, but the hope had been that someone here would be able to shed some light on the story.

Towards the back of the property, past a bus stop and public toilets, there is a back gate which is open and looking into the garden of the building which housed both the now-shut restaurant and the flat where the woman's body was found.

A side door is wide open and inside much of the former kitchen which once served the takeaway is still in place.

Despite the premises being listed online as for sale for an asking price of £399,950, there are sounds from inside which indicate someone is living here.

After a loud knock at the open door, a man appears from within, dressed in a grey polo shirt and tracksuit bottoms, with a few days' stubble on his face.

Speaking in a Yorkshire accent, he explains to me that he was previously homeless but was moved into the downstairs living quarters by the local authority and has been living here since shortly after the suspected murder.

He is unable to share any information about the identity of the woman who once lived in the rooms above his, and says all the information he has was gleaned from newspaper reports at the time.

From his description of his life in Lyminge, it seems there is something of a transient nature to those who are housed here at 15 Station Road.

"The man who had previously been arrested on suspicion of murder has been released, pending further inquiries..."

Describing noises and people moving around upstairs, I assume he is referring to other tenants of the property.

But when pressed, the young man expresses the rather unexpected view that some kind of spirit still dwells in the flat upstairs. An outlandish notion, and the point at which the conversation is brought to a close.

Prior to this visit to the property, we asked Kent Police if – with a year passed and no resolution – they could provide an update as to the state of the investigation.

They told us they could provide nothing more substantial than the following short statement: "There is no update available at the moment.

"The investigation remains ongoing and the man who had previously been arrested on suspicion of murder has been released, pending further inquiries."

This felt unsatisfactory. Surely, after a woman was found dead in the centre of a small village, there was good reason to give the community more than this?

Our continued investigations uncovered a surname, which we suspect is that of the victim but can not report at this stage without proper verification.

Armed with fragments of information, we approached the coroner's office in an effort to see if an inquest into the death of a person by that name in February 2021 had been opened.

The case had been referred for investigation, but no inquest has yet been opened in the year which had passed since her body was found.

Back in Lyminge, I cross Station Road and enter the China China restaurant. Here, to no great surprise, no one seems to know anything more about the mysterious death other than that it happened and little has been said since.

Suspecting the chance of discovering anything resembling a breakthrough are slim to none, the final call is the Coach and Horses pub.

It's lunchtime and the bar is relatively quiet. A few locals pop in for a swift pint or a light bite, while the staff in both the kitchen and behind the bar mill about happily, welcoming each of their regulars by name.

Everyone seems happy to discuss the case – but no one has any idea who the dead woman was.

In fact it seems that many locals had no idea that the flat in which she was found was even occupied. Some suggest she had only moved to the village a short time before her untimely death, and that is why no one locally seems to know who she was or how she came about her demise.

My last throw of the dice is to contact the owner of the property where she was found a year ago.

Searches of the Land Registry and Companies House allow me to trace the owner of both the now-closed Indian takeaway, and the flat above it, to a business address in Dartford.

He was surprised to receive the call, and explained that he did not know the identity of the tenant who was found dead in his flat.

The property was let by a third party, but he was called to allow police access to the flat and was present when the body was found. But since then he has tried to put the memories of that traumatic experience behind him.

And so, one year on, the identity of a woman found dead in the centre of small village remains unknown.

Her death, at this stage, is still nothing more than a statistic.

Do you have information about the case? Did you know the victim? Contact reporter Rhys Griffiths in confidence at rgriffiths@thekmgroup.co.uk