A man who lived in the same flat as the rotting corpse of his friend walked free from court on Thursday.
Duncan Rattray, 64, had been charged with concealing a corpse but those charges were dropped after both prosecution and defence counsel agreed he did not notify anyone about the death because of his poor mental and physical health.
Mr Rattray shared a flat in Bramley Hill, Croydon with the dead man, Robert Lerigo.
On October 11, 2009 police officers found the badly decomposed body of Mr Lerigo after neighbours repeatedly reported a bad stench coming from the flat.
A post-mortem was held the day after the body was discovered and showed Mr Lerigo died of natural causes.
Rattray pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of failing to notify the registrar of a death within five days and was given a six-month condition discharge.
Under the conditions of his discharge he had to present himself to Croydon Council that day and start the process of getting housing and medical treatment.
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