A woman may have been dead in her bed-sit for more than three months, a coroner has heard.

Police were called to the home of Parmjit Cheema in Park Place, Gravesend, on June 6 after neighbours reported a smell coming from the property.

Officers had to break into the bed-sit and discovered the body of a woman on the sofa.

The corpse was so badly decomposed that it was difficult to identify, even by comparing the face with the photo of the occupant in a passport that was found in the flat.

It was eventually concluded that the body was that of the resident, Ms Cheema, who was 64, and an inquest into her death was held on Wednesday.

Ms Cheema lived alone. She was unmarried and had no children. She had four siblings, but she was in touch with them only very rarely.

Although her body was discovered on June 6, her neighbour said she had not seen Ms Cheema for “about three or four months.”

At the hearing at Oakwood House, police said Ms Cheema kept a diary and the last entry had been on March 5. It also tallied with the date on a bottle of milk in the flat so officers concluded this must have been around the time of her death.

The pathologist who carried out a post-mortem was unable to conclude the cause of death because her internal organs had also decomposed.

It is possible that she died from natural causes. She had been suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Police said that there were “minimal belongs” in the flat where Ms Cheema had lived for eight years, but her handbag was there containing a quantity of cash, along with some other items of value and nothing seemed to have been stolen. The flat had also been secured from the inside when police had forced their way in.

The police investigation therefore concluded that there was no third party involvement in the death.

Ms Cheema’s neighbour told police she had never seen her have any visits by friends or relatives in the eight years she had lived there.

The coroner, Roger Hatch, recorded an open verdict on the death, explaining that was the only option open to him as the cause of death could not be established.