Friends at Airbnb rental find decomposing body in the garden

'Her body was found at the bottom of the property which opens out into a wood'

Palaiseau, a southern suburb of Paris (Google Maps)

A woman's body was found by a group of friends in the garden of an Airbnb property they had rented.

The corpse was found at the bottom of the garden in the Palaiseau commune in a Southern suburb of Paris.

The decomposition was so advanced that police have been unable to determine the cause of death and an autopsy as been ordered, the Telegraph reports.

The corpse was found "hunched in a dug-out area, her head against the ground, covered in branches and surrounded by wood stumps" according to a police source.

It was found dressed wearing a "ring with a large stone" with no identification documents, according to local police.

The group of friends had rented the property for a party weekend and were interviewed by the police the day after the discovery.

There has been no information released about the owners of the property.