Laura Winham: Council failed to find tenant’s ‘mummified’ body for three years
The family of a woman who lay dead in social housing for more than three years will never forget the horror of finding her ‘mummified’ body, an inquest heard on Tuesday.
Laura Winham was discovered by her mother and brother after council staff sent to check on her left the property when nobody answered the door.
Ms Winham is believed to have died in November 2017, aged 38.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Her family said they kept their distance since 2014 as her schizophrenia caused her to believe they would harm her.
Her sister Nicky said her mum and brother went to her flat in Woking, Surrey, on May 24, 2021, adding: “They called the police and forced entry, and found a mummified, almost skeletal body.
“The shock of finding her this way can never be forgotten.”
She told Surrey Coroner’s Court that her sister, who was born deaf, was having “delusional thoughts”, adding: “In the last reply to my brother, in 2014, Laura wrote: ‘It is best to have minimum/no contact’.”
They last saw her in person in 2009. Nicky said she contacted New Vision Homes, which managed the flat for Woking Council, in March 2021.
A council worker completed a “door-knock,” but “there was no answer.”
She believes her sister died on November 2, 2017, as she ticked off each date on a calendar and this was the final one.
Pathologist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki said the cause of death was not known.
The inquest continues.
