A PATHOLOGIST has concluded that a man whose body was discovered in a York council flat died of natural causes.

A care assistant found the body of a middle-aged man in a ground-floor flat in Glen Close, Fulford, last night.

She had earlier called in City of York Council staff to break through the front door to gain access.

The flat was sealed off this morning as police forensic teams, wearing protective white suits, searched for clues into the death, which they viewed as "suspicious."

But police said this afternoon that, after conducting a post-mortem examination at York Hospital, a Home Office pathologist had decided that the man died of natural causes and that there were no suspicious circumstances.

Earlier, police had said there were no injuries visible that might suggest violence.

The man, who has not yet been identified, was believed to be the occupant of the flat, where he lived on his own.

Neighbours spoke today of a quiet man who had been in poor health and spent some time in hospital last year.

Next door neighbour Minnie Cartwright said she had not seen him for some time.

"He had been sickly and I thought he was in hospital," she said.

"I feel awful about it. I told him that if he needed me, he should ring me. He was a quiet little man. He kept himself to himself."

Another resident, Betty Shearing, said the man had lived alone. "He hadn't been here that long. He had been in hospital some time last year. He was very thin. I rarely saw him. I only spoke to him once.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before. We have never seen anything like it."

Other residents told how they were disturbed by the sound of banging last night.

One man, who did not wish to be named, said he had heard a banging noise at about 9pm last night.

He had looked out to see a man from City of York Council apparently in a fluorescent jacket apparently trying to break the lock or knock down the door to gain entry to the flat.

Some time later he had seen two police cars outside the premises.

He said of the dead man: "He seemed nice enough but you hardly ever saw him about, he seemed to like getting on with his own thing."

Updated: 16:52 Tuesday, March 04, 2003