Woman dead in bath for two months

The woman, believed to be Mary Kiernan, could have been dead for up to eight weeks.

Neighbours spoke of the near-recluse, who was rarely seen outside her Edmonton Road home except to go occasionally to the shop or church, and who shunned neighbourly help.

Police believe the Irish woman, who lived alone, had been dead since early June.

The alarm was raised at about nine pm on Sunday after 13-year-old Kayleigh Thompson told a neighbour she was concerned that leaflets had not been collected from her letter box for some time.