A woman was found dead at her home nearly five hours after officers were sent to the wrong address.

The vulnerable 52-year-old's daughter called police fearing for her safety in February last year.

Officers were sent to the wrong flat in Dumfries and failed to notice their mistake even after the 84-year-old woman inside gave a different name.

It was more than four and a half hours before they realised what had happened and the 52-year-old was found dead in her home nearby.

She is believed to have died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs at least six hours before she was found.

In a scathing report, the police watchdog criticised Police Scotland's handling of the incident, saying officers failed to "carry out basic checks".

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) also said there was confusion between desk staff and officers on the ground.

It made a number of recommendations to police to prevent similar incidents in future.

In a statement, the woman's family said: "The past 18 months have placed an incredible strain on our family as we have tried to come to terms with the loss of a loving mother and understand the tragic circumstances behind her death."

"None of this will bring our mother back but we hope that going forward Police Scotland will look carefully at these recommendations and that valuable lessons have been learned," they added.

The 52-year-old's daughter called police at 10.07pm on February 19 after she failed to return a series of calls and text messages.

She told them her mother self-harmed and had attempted to take her own life. Control room staff took down her name, address, age and a description.

They failed to realise that because of a problem with their mapping system the address was misinterpreted and officers went to the wrong flat.

They were given the woman's name but not her age or description and were not told she was vulnerable.

After arriving at the wrong address at 10.35pm they woke the woman who lived there and took her name, failing to notice it was different from the one they had been given by the control room.

Police assured the daughter her mother was safe and would call her.

But at 1.53am she went to her mother's home and called police again, who realised their mistake and forced entry to the flat at 2.40am.

The 52-year-old was found dead inside. She is believed to have died between six and 24 hours earlier.

Commissioner Kate Frame said: "This case highlights the need for Police Scotland to ensure that all available relevant information is accurately transmitted to front-line operational officers and for them to act on it appropriately to achieve the service the public expect.

"Whilst I recognise from the medical evidence obtained in this particular case that it is likely the 52-year-old woman was dead by the time the alarm was raised, it does not diminish the particular failures identified or the additional distress caused to the woman's family."

Police Scotland have apologised to the woman's family and said "significant work" had been undertaken since the incident.

"We did not get it right in this case and will continue to work to provide excellent frontline policing across Scotland," a spokesman said.

The incident was dealt with from Police Scotland's Govan control room, one of three stations where all 999 and 101 calls have been answered since a controversial reorganisation.

Police Scotland's call handling team - known internally as C3 Division - faced criticism following the deaths of a young couple in an M9 road crash.

Lamara Bell and her boyfriend John Yuill suffered fatal injuries when their car ran off the motorway near Stirling in July 2015.

It later emerged a witness had reported the accident to police but the call was not logged and the emergency services did not find the couple for three days.

An inquiry into Police Scotland's handling of the incident uncovered serious flaws in the way it dealt with calls.