The body of a retired teacher may have lain undiscovered in his York flat for up to a month because he died over the Christmas period, relatives said today.

The exact cause of the death of Peter Henry Coxon, of Helmsley House, The Groves, York, will remain unknown because his body was too badly decomposed for full conclusions to be drawn at the post mortem.

The York inquest heard that Mr Coxon, 69, had last been seen alive on December 21 by his sister, Jacqueline Pearcy, who also lives in York.

Police were called to the flat on January 25 after City of York Council housing officers became concerned, and found Mr Coxon's body lying in a doorway. There were no suspicious circumstances.

A television guide was open at the page marked December 26, a cash machine receipt showed Mr Coxon had made a withdrawal on December 22 and a carton of milk in the fridge had a best-before date of December 31.

The coroner, Mr Coverdale, said: "When he was last seen Mr Coxon had made no complaints about his health and appeared to be his normal self.

"He was a private person who kept himself to himself and didn't fraternise with neighbours but would acknowledge them. He was a regular churchgoer, liked a drink, but not to excess, and was also a smoker.

"It may well be that this was a death from natural causes but, in absence of a firm cause of death I will record an open verdict."

Mrs Pearcy said: "We used to see him roughly once a month. I think if it hadn't been Christmas, he would have been missed by people around more quickly because he was very involved with the community."

Updated: 08:37 Thursday, June 14, 2001