Police in Greater Manchester have confirmed that the body of a 23-year-old woman from Bolton, later identified as Charlotte Leader, was discovered in her first-floor flat during a welfare check on 6 August, almost a year after she is believed to have died, with an inquest this week returning an open conclusion after pathologists were unable to determine a cause of death because her remains had become mummified.
Detective Inspector Paul Quinn told Bolton Coroner’s Court that officers forced entry after housing staff were unable to gain access for a routine inspection and saw a large build-up of unopened post piled behind the front door, a detail that suggested no one had entered the property for a significant period. Inside, officers found the young woman in bed beneath a duvet “as if sleeping”, and reported that the flat was sparsely furnished and “immaculately clean”, with no obvious signs of disturbance, drug use or preparations for self-harm. Food remaining in the refrigerator carried sell-by dates from July 2024, providing investigators and the coroner with one of the few time markers available in a case where the state of the remains limited forensic options.
Assistant Coroner Stephen Teasdale told the inquest that the court had heard evidence about the young woman’s isolation and her disengagement from support services in the years prior to her death, but said there was no evidence on the balance of probabilities to determine whether she died as a result of natural causes, misadventure or suicide. He therefore entered an open conclusion, a verdict used in England and Wales where the circumstances are suspicious or unclear and the evidence does not safely support another finding. The coroner noted there were no illicit drugs found, no suicide notes, and nothing in diaries to indicate intent, factors that contributed to the uncertainty.
Dr Andrew Coates, a pathologist at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said his examination was “difficult” because the body had undergone mummification, a process he said was consistent with a timescale of around a year in a sealed, dry indoor environment. While he cautioned that eating disorders can leave individuals dangerously underweight and medically vulnerable, the condition of the remains precluded a definitive medical cause. In English coronial practice, where intent cannot be proved and pathology yields no clear mechanism, an open verdict is often the only safe legal outcome, though it offers little closure for families seeking specific answers.