A man had to be identified through dental records after his body lay undetected for “a number of weeks”, an inquest heard.

Skipton Magistrates’ Court learned that Paul Holmes, 43, was found on the floor of his flat in Greenway, Glusburn, on July 11 this year by Yorkshire Housing neighbourhood officer Annette Sadler.

Ms Sadler was attempting to make a regular housing check on the tenant and had called at the home initially in June.

In her statement she said no one answered the door and as it was not regarded unusual she left and returned on July 11, noticing a “smell” and feeling something was wrong.

She contacted the police who gained entry and Mr Holmes, a chronic alcoholic with several medical issues, was found on his bedroom floor.

He was in an advanced state of decomposition.

A post -mortem examination could not establish the cause of death because of the extent of the decomposition and instead his identify was established through dental records, coroner Rob Turnbull said.

He acknowledged that although life extinct had been recorded as 12.47pm on July 11, it was unknown just when Mr Holmes had died, other than a number of weeks earlier, and it could not be established if he had fallen or collapsed.

There had been no signs of any third party involvement.

A statement from Detective Sergeant Marcus Dawson said the flat was infested with 100s of flies and littered with dozens of empty vodka bottles and beer cans, though the rest of the flat was relatively neat and tidy.

Attending the inquest was Mr Holmes’ mother, Freda Heaton, who said in her statement that her son, a talented artist, who had attended Silsden primary school, South Craven School and Bradford Art College, had severed all ties with her in April.

She said her son, before his alcohol dependency, was a caring person who had worked as a team leader with adult mental health patients at Airedale General Hospital.

She said she had gone to his flat on April 18 with a card for his birthday the day after but he would not answer the door.

“I would walk past his address regularly to see if I could see him and check he was all right,” she said.

She said she had once seen him open the window but they did not speak.

Mr Turnbull told the inquest: “It is sad that he was found so long after he died. He may have fallen though we cannot say with certainly.

“Mr Holmes died of natural causes. Whether this cause was the actual cause will remain unascertained.”