A woman in Germany lived with the mummified corpse of her dead husband in the other room for months before anyone noticed.

The gruesome discovery took place on Berliner Strasse, in the town of Elsterwerda, in the north-eastern German state of Brandenburg.

The unnamed man was reportedly 60 at the time of his death some time earlier this year in spring.

His 67-year-old partner – who has not been named either – reportedly continued to live in the apartment with his decomposing corpse in the next room.

It was only when the elderly care service noticed a strange smell in the apartment that the corpse was discovered.

Police spokesperson Maik Kettlitz said: “We were informed on 7th September that there was a body in an apartment on Berliner Strasse.”

The spokesperson added: “In fact, we found human remains in one room of the apartment.”

After the man died, his wife is thought to have simply locked the door to the room and spent the next few months living in the other rooms of the apartment, according to local media.

The police spokesperson added: “On site, the woman was suspected of having a mental illness.”

Kettlitz said that “she was then taken to an appropriate specialist clinic.”

So far, the authorities have not been able to establish a cause of death nor an exact time of death, but local residents had not seen the man since spring, according to local media. The court has reportedly so mummified that the authorities are having trouble formally establishing the man’s identity.

An autopsy is expected to take place today, Wednesday, 14th September, and the police investigation into the incident is ongoing.