Police failed to find an Eastbourne woman's dead body when they searched her house.

The body of the reclusive woman had lain undiscovered in squalor for four months before it was finally discovered, an inquest heard.

Police officers did not spot the body of retired social services worker Wendy Dowsett, 56, when they first visited her home in Seaside.

Two officers forced their way in to the house in July 1999 after worried friends reported a suspicious smell.

Sergeant Howard Nevill and PC Paul Elrick searched the house in poor light but did not find the body.

The house, where Miss Dowsett lived alone, was in disarray with binliners, paper and out-of-date post.

Miss Dowsett, who used to work for East Sussex County Council, was said to have lived a solitary existence. She had only a handful of friends and a sister in Australia.

Among her friends were Lesley Pratt and Mary Pearson, both from Bexhill, who used to meet her once a month for lunch.

When Miss Dowsett failed to turn up in Lewes in July 1999 the pair became worried. They could not contact her on her mobile phone.

As the weeks passed with no contact, Mrs Pearson and Mrs Pratt grew more anxious and visited her house.

Social services worker Mrs Pearson said: "We were shocked by the circumstances we saw. We knocked on the door but got nothing.

"I opened the letterbox and the smell was absolutely appalling. It was a smell that I recognised through my work to be one of a decomposed body."

Mrs Pearson said she told police she could smell a body and they asked her and Mrs Pratt to join a neighbour while they entered.

Mr Nevill and Mr Elrick spent 12 minutes searching the house but did not find a body.

The Eastbourne inquest heard that social services were informed about Miss Dowsett but there was no follow-up visit the following morning.

Mr Elrick said: "This was unfortunate and regrettable. The next day was another busy day. We were short of staff and it was just a case of picking up the first job that came in that following morning."

Coroner Alan Craze said he had a great deal of sympathy for the two officers who visited Miss Dowsett's home.

He said: "There are occasions where people hoard things but this was just appalling.

"I have to say that never have I seen a house in such an appalling state and I'm not surprised that in the dim light you didn't see the lady there."

Miss Dowsett's two friends "constantly" phoned the police after that first visit to see if there had been any news of their friend. They also visited the house a number of times.

The body was found four months later on November 2 1999 after Mrs Pratt heard a report of a body being found at Beachy Head and called police, thinking it might be her friend.

PC Paul Tobutt searched Miss Dowsett's house along with two other officers and found her body in the kitchen amid layers of binliners.

The coroner recorded an open verdict. He said: "By the time her body was found it was quite impossible for the pathologist and the police to ascertain what had caused her death."

Police said new procedures had been put in place on reporting missing persons. Senior police officers said lessons had been learnt.

Superintendent Simon Parr, of Sussex Police, said: "It was very unfortunate that this lady was not found. Sussex Police and the individual officers involved have learnt several lessons from this tragic set of circumstances."

In April, Sussex Police apologised to the family and friends of pensioner Walter Bellman, 82, who lay dead in his garage near his home in Wellington Road, Brighton, for more than two years. Officers had searched the wrong garage.