A BRITISH man kept his girlfriend's corpse on a couch for 10 months - masking the smell of her decomposing flesh with air fresheners.

Police arrested Gabriel Brown, 54, on suspicion of murder in December 2009 after the corpse of Lynn Warman, 37, was discovered surrounded by air fresheners at her home in West Sussex, southern England.

Mr Brown claimed recovering drug addict Ms Warman, who he lived with, had fallen the night of February 9 2009.



He said he woke the next day to find her dead, but was too grief-stricken to contact police, The Metro newspaper reported.

The murder suspect was himself found dead in January this year after bleeding to death while on police bail, Horsham Magistrates' Court coroner heard.

An autopsy on Ms Warman failed to find a cause of death because of the length of time she had been dead.



An inquest into Mr Brown's death will take place later this year.

There was no evidence she had been in a violent struggle and there was a possibility she died in the position she was found on the couch.

A former neighbour said: "Gabriel and Lynn had their ups and downs like any couple but they seemed happy a lot of the time. It’s horrible to think she lay there for nearly a year as he lived in the same house.

"The smell must have been terrible. I hope they can both now rest in peace."

Originally published as Dead girlfriend kept on couch for months