A reclusive son spent four months living with the body of his dead dad in an armchair in the living room, an inquest heard.
A shocked neighbour finally saw Timothy Brown,59, watching TV in a chair next to the pyjama-clad skeleton of his 94-year-old dad Kenneth.
Timothy claimed his dad had died from a fall during a bedroom blaze in June last year, the hearing was told.
He had been his dad's sole carer for ten years and told no-one about the death.
Instead, he placed widower Kenneth's decomposing body in his favourite armchair and carried on life as normal in their £270,000 bungalow in Stafford.
The neighbour said in a statement: "The back door was open, from the kitchen I could hear the TV was on loudly in the living room.
"Tim was in there watching TV. I spoke to Tim for a few minutes from the hall, before I opened the door fully.
"As I looked at the chair I wasn't sure what I was looking at. I could see a skull, I was very shocked."
Police were called in October last year and Timothy was arrested for offences of concealing a body and preventing a burial.
But detectives decided it was not in the public interest to bring charges.
The Cannock inquest heard the two recluses had "hardly any visitors" after Tim's mum died in 2004.
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Det Con Andrew Weatherley told the hearing "Unfortunately Timothy didn't call the emergency services.
"He couldn't come to terms with the fact his father had passed away. The pair had led a reclusive life together and were very close.
"He had left his father there over the course of several months and just lived with it.
"He realised he should have reported the death but couldn't bring himself to do it.
"There was no obvious motive for him to cause the death of his father and it was decided he should not face criminal charges.
"At the end of the day he had lost his father. There was no motive to cause the death of his father."
A post mortem examination failed to find a cause of death because of the decomposition of the body.
But it did reveal a number of fractures to Mr Brown's ribs.
Fire investigators found the injuries were caused when he fell out of bed during a blaze caused by a faulty electric heater.
Recording an open verdict, coroner Margaret Jones said: "It is a very sad case indeed.
"His son failed to deal with his father's death appropriately. The pair were very reclusive until the alarm was raised by a neighbour.
"It is not possible for me to conclude that this was an accident as there is one piece of the jigsaw missing.
"Kenneth was last seen alive in April and his body was found in October but because of the decomposition of the body a cause of death cannot be ascertained."