A Nelson court's found a woman not guilty by reason of insanity in a body-tampering case, after police found a dead man on his deck with what appeared to be a 'shrine' around his body

Open Justice reports the woman had been living with the man at his Nelson home, and was there when police arrived in January on an unrelated matter.

The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition, he had to be identified from one remaining fingerprint.

When asked why the woman didn't ring police she said she was going to but "hadn't go around to it."

The cause of the man's death is not known and it has now been referred to the coroner.