A FORMER teacher lay undiscovered in her house for several days after she died.

Police were called to 40-year-old Helen Gradwell’s home in Heaton after neighbours alerted them after becoming concerned they had not seen her walking her dogs.

Neighbours say officers forced their way into the home in Beverley Road, Heaton, and found her body. House to house enquiries were also made by police.

Officers were called at 5.25pm on April 26 after a concern for welfare call.

The news has left the close knit community in shock, with neighbours saying they used to see her walking her two dogs, thought to be an Alsatian and spaniel.

They described her as a private person.

One neighbour said: “The police came round and asked if I knew her.

“I told them I had only spoken to her once.

“The officer told me she had died but couldn’t tell me howshe died.

“I did see a group of people outside her house crying and hugging, who I think were her family.

“It is very sad and very upsetting to know that poor girl has died.

“We don’t know how long she was in there.

“We are all shocked.”

Det Insp Charlotte Cadden, of Bolton police, said: “The woman lay undiscovered for some time but there was nothing suspicious about her death.”

Subject to a coroner’s investigation, an inquest date has been provisionally set for August.

Ms Gradwell was interviewed by the Guardian newspaper two years ago in the run-up to the General Election for an article about swing voters.

The newspaper reported that after a degree in psychology and sociology, she became a secondary school teacher, teaching in Manchester and Oldham.

It is thought she worked at Oldham Sixth Form College before developing hemiplegic migraine which gave her severe pain down one side of her body.

She later started working as a private tutor.

Her funeral was held at Overdale west chapel earlier this month.

A notice in The Bolton News earlier this month said she was “beloved daughter” to Imelda and Jack.