A mum and her toddler daughter may not have eaten for days before they died, an inquest heard today.

Two-year-old Lynne Mutumba and her mother, Lillian Oluk, 36, were found dead in their one-bedroom flat in Trafalgar Street, Gillingham, on March 14 this year.

The inquest was told there was no medical reason for their deaths but various examinations suggested Ms Oluk was suffering from malnutrition and starvation and Lynne had been dehydrated.

Ms Oluk was also not taking her medication for HIV and sickle cell anaemia - her daughter had neither condition.

Coroner Kate Thomas recorded open verdicts into their deaths following the inquest at Old Gravesend Town Hall. She said there was not enough evidence to say for certain how they had died.

Ms Thomas had been told that Ms Oluk and Lynne had moved to Gillingham on December 10.

Until the middle of February, Ms Oluk was buying healthy food for the pair of them using a money pass from social services but after February 14 she did not buy groceries and for two weeks they appear to have existed on takeaways, visiting McDonalds or KFC twice a day.

The inquest was told there was no evidence of the mother having bought any food after February 27.

Officers who investigated the deaths found the fridge was empty, there was no other food in the flat and it was stripped bare of personal possessions. All they had were the clothes they were wearing when they died.

CCTV footage shows Ms Oluk leaving the flat and going to the communal bins but there were no pictures of her after March 7.

Ms Oluk was last seen with Lynne on February 28 coming back from a local church and she was last seen on her own on March 7 when she met her key worker.

When the bodies were discovered, Lynne was in bed and her mum was on the floor of the bedroom.

Ms Oluk originally came from Uganda and used to work for LSG Sky Chefs, a company that supplies catering and supplies for airlines, based near Gatwick Airport.

The inquest was told that in mid-February she received a letter telling her she was no longer entitled to stay in this country.

The inquest heard that she came to the attention of social services in Croydon when she and Lynne were camping out at the local hospital for two weeks. She was found a home in Wolverhampton but the flat was unsuitable and she was moved to Gillingham in December.

At the end of the inquest, Ms Thomas said it was a "tragic set of circumstances whatever they were".

She recorded open verdicts and said it was not possible for her to ascertain any cause of death for either Ms Oluk or Lynne.

After the inquest, Pamela Angole said of her sister Lillian: "She was lovely, beautiful, bubbly and very cheeky. She could make anyone laugh anytime.

"My niece was the loveliest baby you could want ever, I saw her as my third child and we just miss her desperately."

At the time the bodies were found, neighbours at the block of flats said they were stunned by the discovery.

A woman who lived above the flat said since January she had regularly heard a woman shouting at a crying child but the shouting had stopped around March 6.