Image caption Police were initially unable to enter Mrs Jones' home due to the amount of rubbish filling each room

An 83-year-old woman may have been dead in her home for more than two years, an inquest heard.

Gertrude Gaynor Jones, known as Gaynor, was found dead in her Aberaeron home in Ceredigion on 21 March 2018.

Her body was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be ascertained.

Her daughter Valerie Jones was found collapsed at the house where she lived with her mother, and said she could not remember Gaynor dying.

An inquest at Aberystwyth Justice Centre heard Valerie had purchased bags of grit in December 2015 and January 2016, and in police interviews suggested she understood one of salt's uses was preservation.

Her mother's body was covered in grit and rubbish, and police were unable to enter the home initially due to the amount of rubbish filling each room and the garden.

Image caption Mrs Jones was last thought to be alive in December 2015

Valerie had given the impression over the years that her mother was still alive, saying she was staying with relatives or had moved to a care home, and no-one was allowed to enter the bungalow.

After Gaynor's body had been found, Valerie suggested to a family member her mother would be able to fix an item of clothing, and had to be reminded again that she had died.

Valerie told police a bookcase had fallen on her mother, but no bookcase was found in the house and this explanation was disregarded. She now lives in a mental health facility, the inquest was told.

It was deemed not in the public interest to charge Valerie with any offence, but had she been charged it would have been with preventing lawful burial of a body and there was no suggestion she was involved in her mother's death, coroner Peter Brunton said.

Mr Brunton recorded a narrative conclusion and said on the balance of probabilities, Gaynor died of natural causes.

He estimated time of death to be between December 2015 when Gaynor was last thought to be alive, and the end of 2017.