A PENSIONER lived in the same house as his dead sister for four months.

The 66-year-old man went about his daily business as his sister’s corpse lay in a bed upstairs.

Police were called to the semi-detached house in Danesbury Road, Bradshaw, on Thursday morning after a window cleaner noticed an infestation of flies in an upstairs bedroom.

The man let the police in and they discovered the body of a woman in a badly decomposed state in bed in a room upstairs.

Police think the woman died some time in March and has been in the house ever since.

The man — who is the dead woman’s brother — is believed to have a mental illness and was in the care of his sister before she died. He has been spoken to by detectives.

It is believed he simply could not come to terms with the death of his sister.

The man is now in the care of Bolton Social Services.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Police attended following a concern for welfare report.

“Officers went into the house and found the body of a woman in her 60s in bed. Inquiries are ongoing.”

A post mortem examination was due to take place last night but initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances.

Neighbours in Danesbury Road expressed shock yesterday.

One woman who spoke to the window cleaner — known only to her as Steve — said he told her he had been cleaning the windows at the house two weeks ago when he noticed the flies.

On that occasion he thought nothing of it and carried on with his work.

But when he went back to the house on Thursday, he told her he could not see through the bedroom window because of flies and noticed a stench coming from the house.

He spoke to another resident and they raised the alarm.

Another neighbour, who has been living in the street for 50 years, said the sister gave up her job some years ago to come back and look after her brother and that the house had previously belonged to their parents.

“They kept themselves to themselves and were very quiet. It’s awful,” she added.