Poole woman dead for up to two weeks before being discovered (From Bournemouth Echo)

Poole woman dead for up to two weeks before being discovered

2:30pm Tuesday 22nd May 2012 in News By

A POOLE woman may have been dead for two weeks before neighbours discovered her body.

Cheryl Roberta Forster, 47, was suffering from liver disease so badly that she looked eight months pregnant when she was last seen in February, an inquest heard.

Estranged husband Jonathan Forster-Dye asked Catherine Chedzoy, who lived below Mrs Forster in Solomon Way, Hamworthy, to check up on her 10 days later.

Catherine’s partner James Gallagher told the coroner’s court: “She went inside and went into the bedroom and saw something curled up on the bedroom floor.

“She thought it was a cuddly toy so left a note asking Cheryl to phone Jonathan.”

The last night he saw Mrs Forster alive, on February 19, it took her 40 minutes to climb the stairs to her home, Mr Gallagher said.

She had seemed unwell so he went to get four cans of cider from the shop to steady her, he said.

“I had to tell her to keep taking a drink. Her stomach was swollen up. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but she looked about eight months pregnant,” he said.

Mr Gallagher discovered Mrs Forster’s body by her bed on March 3. It was too decomposed for alcohol and drug levels to be measured.

Mrs Forster spent time in rehab and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, the inquest heard.

Recording an open verdict, Coroner Sheriff Payne said: “I am not allowed to rely on guesswork and because of that this has to be an open verdict.”