POLICE in Thanet want to speak to a lodger who has not been seen since his landlord was found dead six months ago.

The body of 46-year-old Polish-born Zbigniew Bienias was discovered in the lounge of his bungalow in Canterbury Road, Birchington, on February 13, an inquest has been told.

Pathologist Peter Jerreat told the hearing that Mr Bienias had died from alcoholic cardiomyopathy, brought on by long-term alcohol abuse.

There was no evidence of third-party involvement in the death. The body was badly decomposed and it is thought Bienias he died about a month earlier.

Det Insp Jon Holl said there was evidence another person had been living at the address until around the time Mr Bienias died.

He said: “When we found the body in the lounge it was on the floor covered with a duvet, and there was a camp bed nearby that had clearly been used regularly. “There was enough evidence to warrant a full police investigation.

“The front door and windows of the bungalow were closed, but not locked. There was no evidence of a struggle, or theft, but the victim’s wallet was missing.

“Through CCTV, telephone and banking records, we have reason to believe Mr Bienias was still alive on January 13. Police had entered the house after a call from Mr Bienias’s son, who could not contact his father.

His son last heard from him by phone on January 17, but a calendar in the lounge had not been torn off since mid-January.”

DI Holl said police had spoken to a prostitute who had visited the bungalow on January 17. She told them that she had been paid “several hundred” pounds by a young man for sexual acts.

Police have established this was not Mr Bienias. The prostitute did not enter the lounge of the bungalow, but said her client was “edgy”.

DI Holl told coroner Rebecca Cobb that police knew the loder had gone abroad, and were waiting to speak to him. “We are not linking him to Mr Bienias’s death,” he stressed. ”but we do wish to speak to him regarding other matters.”

Miss Cobb said that although the condition of Mr Bienias’s heart was consistent with excess alcohol taking, the decomposition of the body made it inappropriate to state a definite cause of death. She recorded an open verdict.