By Pascal Harter BBC News, Barcelona

Holiday homes increasingly dominate Spain's coast

A man in north-eastern Spain has made an unexpected discovery after buying a new home without seeing it first.

Inside he found the mummified body of the previous owner.

Jordi Giro bought the flat in the Costa Brava resort of Rosas at an auction after the previous owner defaulted on her payments.

He told police that he was shocked on going into the flat for the first time to discover her body sitting on the sofa.

It seems that Maria Luisa Zamora failed to keep up payments on her mortgage because she had in fact died in 2001.

Forgotten

Police believe the body has been preserved by the salty sea air.

Coroners said Mrs Zamora died of natural causes.

But questions are being asked about why no-one has been concerned as to her whereabouts for the last six years.

Police say neither her estranged husband nor her children in Madrid registered a missing persons report for the 55-year-old.

Neighbours say Mrs Zamora had bought the flat as a holiday home and told AFP news agency that when the garden grew over they assumed she had simply stayed away.