MYSTERY surrounds the cause of death of a Wirral pensioner whose body was found on a rifle range in Deeside.

Jean Lloyd, 77, was declared missing from her home in Thornton Hough on April 17 last year.

She had failed to turn up at a doctor's appointment on Mellock Lane in Neston and her body was found on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land in Sealand.

Coroner Joanne Lees told an inquest at County Hall in Mold that Mrs Lloyd, a widow and mother of two children, had been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia in the late 1980s after she began to hear voices, but the condition had been successfully managed by an injection every three weeks.

In a statement read to the hearing Mrs Lloyd's son Edward said his mother had worked as a seamstress in Liverpool before working as a part-time cleaner until her retirement.

She had left the home they shared at around 1pm to get a bus to Neston, but he became concerned when she did not return home later that afternoon.

Mr Lloyd added he would normally have given his mother a lift to the doctors, but because he was no longer able to drive after being registered as disabled, he had given her instructions about where to get off the bus.

It had been many years since she had used public transport and Neston had changed a lot in the years since Mrs Lloyd had lived there.

Mr Lloyd reported his mother as missing to Merseyside Police shortly after 5pm after he had made a call to the doctors, only to be told his mother had not arrived for her appointment.

Mrs Lees, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, explained a full scale search of the Neston area took place over the course of the next three days, including with the assistance of members of Cheshire Search and Rescue team, and Mrs Lloyd, who was wearing black pants, a cream top and purple coat at the time of her disappearance, had been picked up on CCTV on the bus to Neston.

Detailed and thorough searches were carried out in park land and along a coastal path that led to North Wales.

On the morning of Saturday, April 21, Ian Milner of Cheshire Search and Rescue spotted Mrs Lloyd, who was lying face down between two rings of barbed wire fencing and shortly after 11.30am she was pronounced dead by Paramedics.

A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Mared Owen-Casey revealed Mrs Lloyd had not suffered any clear injuries and the cause of death could not be explained.

Although there was "nothing obvious", it was possible she could have died as a result of hyperthermia after becoming trapped.

Reaching her 'open' conclusion Ms Lees said: "There is no evidence and no explanation as to how Mrs Lloyd came by her death.

"I can't say it was natural and I can't say it was unnatural.

"Therefore, I cannot establish how she came by her death so on the balance of probabilities I am recording an open death."

Mrs Lloyd was described by her son as being "a kind, caring person, who was very sadly missed".