THE body of a woman in her 80s was found at an address in Winchester.

Police were called to an address in Fox Lane, Stanmore, at 12.46pm on October 5 after the 82-year-old woman was discovered.

She is understood to have been dead for some time.

It is understood that the pensioner, who has not been named, owned a number of cats and the RSPCA had visited but were unable to access her property.

There have been unsubstantiated reports on social media that the house had 15 cats and that some were dead inside the property when the body was found.

An RSPCA spokesperson told the Chronicle: “We’re very sorry to hear about this tragic death. Our thoughts are with loved ones.

“We visited this address on a number of occasions over the past two years and saw some of the cats, who were in good condition, outside the property but our inspector was unable to get a response from the lady who lived here.

“Our inspector raised concerns about the wellbeing of this lady to the relevant authorities following these visits.

“Alongside rescuing and rehabilitating animals, our teams work tirelessly to protect and support vulnerable people to help them better care for their animals.

“As part of our work as an animal welfare charity, all our staff and volunteers are trained in safeguarding and, if they have concerns about the wellbeing of people, they always raise these with the relevant authorities, such as the police, local authority social services teams, and housing associations.

“We were contacted again earlier this month and our inspector has made multiple visits to try to assist cats who are thought to be living outside the address and will be continuing to work with relevant authorities and neighbours.”

Following her death, police have been working with coroner's officers and an inquest is expected to be opened.

A police spokeswoman said: “The death was not treated as suspicious, and a file was prepared for the coroner.

“Regarding any further questions around the circumstances of or before the death, we are providing a file for the coroner. This matter is now with them so any further enquiries will need to be directed to them, anything relevant will be heard at the inquest.”

Winchester City Council were asked to comment and said: “Winchester City Council is aware of the death of a resident of Stanmore. Along with other agencies locally, we had been working to support this individual and we would like to offer our sincere condolences to those have been affected by this. We are unable to comment further at this time whilst we wait on the verdict of the coroner’s report."