Police have found the body of an elderly man at his home in Arnhem, and say he is likely to have been dead for several months.

Neighbours raised the alarm after not seeing the man, who was thought to be in his 80s, for some time. The man lived in the Van Galenstraat in the Presikhaaf district of the city.

One neighbour told broadcaster NOS that the man may have been Spanish and spent a lot of time in Spain. ‘I don’t think he had any family or friends,’ she said. ‘He had some contact with the neighbour who lived next door, but he was a solitary type.’

Neighbours initially thought the man was in Spain and so did not call in the police. However, one neighbour, named by NOS as Anja, said she had her doubts and called in the landlord. He alerted the police who opened the door and found the man’s body.

According to local newspaper the Gelderlander, the man had not been seen for some nine months.

In 2013, police found the body of a 74-year-old women who had been dead in her Rotterdam home for 10 years without anyone noticing.

Her bills were paid automatically from her state pension and her body was only discovered after she failed to respond to letters and phone calls about having her gas pipes renewed.

Police were able to date her death by the piles of post unopened behind the door.