A man in Austria kept his mother's dead body in his basement for more than a year in order to continue receiving her pension and nursing allowance, say police.

       Officers made the discovery after carrying out checks at an address in the Innsbruck area last weekend.

       Police were acting on suspicions the man's 89-year-old mother had died in June 2020.

       "It was suspected that the 66-year-old’s mother had died in June 2020," Austrian police said in a statement to Euronews.

       "The surveys and interviews conducted so far with the man subsequently revealed that his then 89-year-old mother died at home in mid-2020 and the man had kept his mother’s body in the cellar of the house in order to continue to pay the woman’s pension and care allowance relate."

       Investigations suggest the man took in a “mid-five-digit” sum of euros, police added.

       They said the man confessed to the act. But, based on the post-mortem, no evidence of foul play was found.