An elderly man lived for years with the body of his dead lodger on the sofa of his council flat in Bristol.

The man, who is in his seventies, never reported the death of his dead friend and officials never suspected anything despite a stench that neighbours complained about repeatedly.

The corpse was found in the living room after council workers finally responded to complaints about the foul smell coming from the flat.

It is not clear how long the corpse remained in the flat. One neighbour told the Bristol Evening Post that he moved into his flat eight years ago after the previous tenants left because of the vile stench - but police dismissed reports that it could have been there for a decade.

A police spokesman said: "It has been suggested that the body may have been there for as long as ten years. This is incorrect, although it is fair to say we believe it was there for several years.

The identity of the deceased man, who was also in his seventies, has not been released but Bristol Coroner’s Court confirmed that an inquest will open later today. His family has been informed.

The tenant, who remained living in the property, was initially arrested in connection with the discovery but police are no longer treating the death as suspicious. He was named locally as Alan Derek.

It is believed that the tenant failed to report the death because he suffers from severe mental health problems. He has now been relocated to another flat in the same building.

Residents of Mawdeley House, Bedminster, had made numerous complaints about a terrible odour from the first floor flat for years but nothing was done about it. They were told there could be problems with drains or accumulated rubbish.

One neighbour said he moved into his flat eight years ago after previous tenants had left because of the "vile stench". Despite his complaints, the smells had continued.

"I never dreamed there would be a dead body in there. I had the shock of my life when I found out what had happened," he told the Bristol Evening Post.

Another resident of the apartment block said the dead man had lived there for a while with the tenant before vanishing. She said he was thin and had grey hair.

Bristol City Council has launched an internal inquiry to establish how the corpse went unnoticed for so long.

“We were alerted to the body after we received reports of a smell,” said a council spokesman.

“We are shocked and concerned by this discovery and are carrying out an urgent internal review of the circumstances of the tenant.”

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