Tenant lay dead in flat for more than 10 days

The flat's owner, Philip Gray. Picture / Simon Baker

Alan Fraser Sellwood lived a quiet life and kept to himself. So no one bothered to check when the 63-year-old beneficiary stopped appearing from his small, run-down Timaru flat.

Mr Sellwood lay dead in his bedroom for more than 10 days before he was discovered by a friend on Tuesday night, police said.

Tenants living in the same complex had noticed a strange smell in the last week but could not find the source of the odour.

After Mr Sellwood's body was found, police immediately cordoned off the flat to investigate. The body was so badly decomposed that they could not be sure his death was not suspicious.

Detective Sergeant Marion Neill said a post-mortem was carried out yesterday and it found Mr Sellwood had died of natural causes.

Mr Sellwood had no children, and his parents had died. He had a brother in Dunedin and other siblings in Australia.

He had lived in the flat since October 2004, after his last flat was demolished to make way for a hotel.

He was very quiet, "almost reclusive", said his landlord, Philip Gray. "He was certainly a model tenant. He didn't complain about anything, and no one complained about him."

Mr Sellwood had been meticulous about keeping his flat tidy but had let things go in the last few months as his health deteriorated.

He had offered to spray weeds around the complex but never got around to using the spray Mr Gray had given to him.

Mr Sellwood had a "lady friend" who lived in Timaru but did not appear to have a lot of other friends.

One neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Adrianne, said she had noticed mail building up in Mr Sellwood's letterbox and his cat getting thin. She said she didn't do anything about it because she was scared to knock on his door and did not know who to call.

"I mentioned it to a couple of people, and I didn't follow my instincts. It's very sad he had to die all alone."

She said Mr Sellwood had been a "big strapping man with big thick legs" but in recent months had got thinner and thinner until he was a "little hobbling man".

Michael Parker, chief executive of South Canterbury Presbyterian Support, said he was amazed this could happen in the small town of Timaru.

Timaru had strong services and networks for the elderly and people living alone and in need.

"I could see it happening somewhere like Auckland. It's a bigger city, it's a lot more transient, there's a lot more suspicion. But I struggle with that in Timaru."

In September 2003, the partially decomposed bodies of 75-year-old Joyce Riley and her 43-year-old son Tim were discovered in their Christchurch home.

Mr Riley, who was unemployed, had been dead for almost two months, his widowed mother for a matter of weeks.

In Sydney this year, the bodies of five elderly people were found dead in their homes over a 10-day period.