The family of a woman who lay dead in her flat for over three years found her remains, an inquest revealed.
Laura Winham’s family expressed concerns about her welfare nearly two months prior to her being discovered in her Surrey, UK home in May 2021.
At the time of discovery, Ms. Winham was 41 years old. Her loved ones requested police to enter her home due to worries about her safety.
According to her family, she was “abandoned and left to die” by social and mental health services, having passed away in November 2017, three-and-a-half years before her body was found.
An inquest into her death, which opened at Surrey Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, October 1, heard that Ms. Winham’s family contacted Woking Borough Council (WBC) two months before the discovery of her remains, but a subsequent welfare check at her home went unanswered.
A statement from a former employee at New Vision Homes, the landlord contractor for WBC from 2015 to April 2022, noted that Ms. Winham’s sister reached out on March 31, 2021, expressing concerns about her well-being due to accumulated mail.
“Woking Borough Council completed a door knock that received no answer. It was at the end of May that New Vision Homes was informed she had been found dead,” the statement said.
It added that it was “clear she was vulnerable” and that she should have been flagged as such, which would have alerted New Vision Homes and WBC to her situation.
The inquest also highlighted that authorities had made multiple attempts to contact Ms. Winham prior to the discovery of her body. In November 2018, a gas company reached out regarding an annual gas check, but there was no response, leading to her gas supply being stopped in January 2019 after several unsuccessful attempts to contact her.
A statement read in court mentioned that since bringing housing functions back in-house, strict measures have been implemented, including home visits, phone calls, and contacting next of kin to assist in similar situations.
In March 2021, WBC attempted to visit her home regarding complaints about large gatherings in communal areas outside her flat, but there was no answer at her door, and no further reports were made on the issue.
Ms. Winham’s sister, Nicky, previously stated that their family lost contact with her due to years of schizophrenia that led her to believe they intended to harm her.
The court was informed that she had received an eviction notice in April 2014 due to rent arrears totaling £1,579, but these arrears were paid by a third party, preventing the eviction.
