A 20-YEAR-OLD woman who, according to her brother, was "possessed by evil spirits" died within hours of being admitted to hospital in a severely emaciated and anaemic state.

And at an inquest at Hornsey Coroner's Court, police described events surrounding Dina Mahanlal Premgi's death as "bizarre".

More than ten months after her death, her body is still in the mortuary as her family has not organised a funeral.

Dina, who lived with her family in Clayton Avenue, Wembley, was admitted to the Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal with heart failure on July 24 last year. Police officers and hospital staff were alarmed by her condition and an investigation was launched.

DI Tony Barker told the court that her family had extreme Hindu-based religious beliefs and when officers visited their home they found Dina's mother in bed, also in a very malnourished state.

Shortly after Dina's death, her father and brother lay beside her, trying to warm her up and saying she could be revived. Crosses and chains had been placed on her body.

The police's family liaison officer Parminder Brar said that everything had been tried to persuade the family to hold a funeral, including bringing in members of the local community and representatives of Hindu temples, but to no avail.

Pathologist Dr Robert Chapman said he had never seen a body so pale. Even blood sent for analysis had so few red blood cells it was almost clear.

He gave the cause of death as bone marrow failure and a disorder in which the blood cells destroy themselves, but added this was only a mechanism and not an underlying cause.

He could not identify a cause for the bone marrow failing, a chronic process which would have been going for months, but it could have resulted from a viral infection or toxin.

Dr Chapman added that although malnutrition may have played a part, it would not have accounted for all the changes he found.

Coroner Dr William Dolman recorded an open verdict.