FORENSIC tests are continuing on the body of pensioner Marie Veronica Reynolds to try to establish the cause of death.

Police confirmed yesterday the body found in a Newport stream at Malpas last month was that of 70-year-old Mrs Reynolds, who was known as Veronica. She was reported missing on August 13, 2002. Coroner's officer Ken Le Prevost said: "There are still tests ongoing to determine the cause of death.

"This means the body is not available for release at the moment and we cannot give a time scale on when it will be released.

"When the coroner is satisfied that the pathologist has completed his examination and that all the tests have been concluded he will open an inquest and the body can be released."

He said the coroner's office was informed of the case as soon as the body was found.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said they did not know whether it would be days or weeks before the results were known and that their investigation into the cause of death was continuing.

Mrs Reynolds' body was discovered half-a-mile from her Hollybush Avenue home in a waterway on private farmland on January 27.

Residents on Hollybush Avenue who knew Mrs Reynolds have been hoping the body was hers so she could be laid to rest.

A 52-year-old man from the Cardiff area, who was arrested in relation to Mrs Reynolds' disappearance in August last year, is still on police bail. Mrs Reynolds had no children of her own and was a member of the University of the Third Age (U3A), a Malpas-based education group for the elderly.

U3A chairman Maureen Rocke said: "There have been so many rumours but now she can have a proper service.

"We have been very shocked by the whole thing that has been going on for 18 months. As it's gone on people have wanted to draw a close to things and it is extraordinary that it has taken so long for the body to emerge. We are now waiting to find out what happens with the forensic tests." She said Mrs Reynolds was a loyal member of the U3A history group.