Arrested man may have lived with corpse for a month

Police hope to be able to move the body from the Western Springs house today. Photo / Martin Sykes

A man arrested yesterday in a homicide probe may have been living in an Auckland house with the body of a woman for up to a month.

The woman's decomposing body was found in a house in Warwick Street, Western Springs, on Tuesday evening - up to a month after she is believed to have died.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard told the Herald yesterday that until a full scene examination had been completed and an autopsy was carried out on the woman's body, questions would remain about how and when she died.

Mr Beard said police went to the home after a phone call from a friend of the woman who was concerned that she had not seen or heard from her.

When officers arrived at the home, a man answered the door.

Mr Beard said police officers noticed a smell in the home, and then discovered a woman's body.

The man, a 47-year-old self-employed computer programmer, was later arrested for assaulting the woman some time between April 17 and Tuesday.

The man's name, and the name of the alleged victim, a 48-year-old woman, were suppressed in the Auckland District Court yesterday by Judge Phil Gittos.

The man, a tall, Caucasian, was visibly distressed when he appeared in the dock. He stood, his hands tucked in the pockets of a blue zip-up hooded sweatshirt, and appeared to weep.

Judge Gittos remanded the man in custody without plea for two weeks so a psychological assessment could be made.

Mr Beard said he hoped to have the woman's body out of the home by later today so a post-mortem examination could be conducted.

"We're not going to rush getting the body out because the body's been there for some time. We need to be careful ... it's not an easy task for the staff that are at the scene."

Mr Beard was reluctant to reveal details on what he described as a bizarre case.

He said police were conducting background checks on both the man and the woman to determine their relationship and to find out what had happened.

Mr Beard would not say where in the home the body was found.

Asked if the man had been living at the home while the body had been decaying, Mr Beard said: "What we're trying to do as part of the investigation is establish exactly that - whether he was living there or what the circumstances of him being there were."

Meanwhile, Mr Beard said police wanted to hear from anyone who called at the address of Flat 1/26 Warwick St, Western Springs, over the past month and who either did not get a response or who was greeted by someone other than the woman who lived there.

"It's clear from our preliminary evaluation of the scene that the woman has been dead for some weeks and we'd like to be able to get some clarity around when she was last seen alive and by whom."