RELATIVES of an elderly man believed to have been dead in his home for up to three days after Christmas have been found after an appeal through the Hereford Times.

Detective Sergeant Tim Powell, of Herefordshire CID, said family of 83-year-old Norman Jenkins came forward having been told of the herefordtimes.com story posted on Friday.

Mr Jenkins is believed to have been dead in his Hereford home for up to three days before being found by police.

Officers responding to concerns from neighbours forced a way into the Westfaling Street address on Tuesday, December 30.

The 83-year-old - who lived alone - was dead in his bathroom.

A police guard was put on the address overnight but any possibility of suspicious circumstances was ruled out by the following morning, with a heart attack thought the most likely cause of death.

The focus then shifted to finding family.

Receipts found in a wallet suggested Mr Jenkins was alive on Saturday, December 27, and went into Hereford city centre.

But, with no definitive sightings of him beyond that date, detectives had to work with the possibility that he had been dead in the house for up to three days.

Neighbours knew of no family for Mr Jenkins and Christmas cards at the house offered no contact clues.

On Friday, an appeal went out through herefordtimes.com.

This morning, DS Powell confirmed that, as a result of the story, contact with family in the county had been established over the weekend.