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Reclusive woman's body eaten by her cats

The body of a woman described as a recluse was eaten by her cats after it lay undiscovered in her home for several weeks, the Southern Daily Echo reports.

An inquest into the death of Janet Veal said the post-mortem into the cause of death proved "extremely difficult" due to the amount of time that had passed before police made the "distressing" discovery.

Mrs Veal, estranged from her husband, was described as a recluse by neighbours in Hampshire and had suffered a number of chest conditions over the years. Coroner Keith Wiseman:

Given the background history and findings I am prepared to find on the balance of probabilities this was sadly a natural death that led to really very untoward consequences because of the inability of Mrs Veal to get any assistance for herself and to be confined in the way that she was in this property with a number of animals that had not been fed for quite a long period of time.