I must admit, I still find stories like this to be utterly horrific. A dead man who wasn’t found for six years, no-one listed him as missing, no-one noticed he hadn’t been around. Neighbours thought he’d moved away.

The coroner said it appeared the 63-year-old had fallen through the net despite repeated visits and letters by the housing trust, the Benefits Agency and the Pension Service.

After the inquest, Walsall Council’s chief executive Annie Shepperd, said the discovery would have been made sooner, if the flats had not been due to be demolished.

She said that the flat would have been rented to another tenant, and while it was being prepared for them, the body would have been found.

Too grim to think about.