London, July 4 (DPA) A woman's body lay for five years in her Edinburgh apartment before it was discovered after neighbours notified authorities about a water leak, media reports said Saturday.

Police had to plough through mounds of unopened mail as they entered the apartment in the Scottish capital before making the grisly discovery.

The solitary-living 89-year-old woman had paid all her bills by banker's order, meaning no one appeared to have noticed she had died, the reports said.