The family of a vulnerable woman whose dead body lay in her social housing flat unnoticed for more than three years had raised concerns about her welfare two months before she was discovered, an inquest has heard.
Laura Winham’s remains were found by her brother in her flat in Woking, Surrey, in May 2021, after the family asked police to break in. They previously said she had been “abandoned and left to die” by social and mental health services.
An inquest into her death opened at Surrey coroner’s court on Tuesday. Her landlord, New Vision Homes, which was running homes for the council at the time, said it should have been alerted to Winham’s vulnerability, the inquest heard.
A statement from a former employee of the company, read at the inquest, confirmed the family had raised the alarm in March 2021 about Winham’s welfare and unopened mail that was gathering at her door.
It said: “Woking borough council completed a door knock which received no answer. It was at the end of May that New Vision Homes were told she had been found dead.”
The statement added that it was “clear she was vulnerable” and that “she should have been flagged as vulnerable as this would have alerted New Vision Homes and Woking borough council to her vulnerability”.
The inquest also heard that numerous attempts had been made by the authorities and energy suppliers to contact Winham before her body was discovered.
The council told the inquest that it had changed its policies since taking back control of its housing in 2022. It said: “Since bringing housing function back in-house strict measures have been put in place. Home visits, calls and contacting next of kin to assist the situation. New process ensures injunctions can be sought to gain access to homes.”
Winham’s sister Nicky said her family had been unable to maintain contact with her after years of schizophrenia caused her to believe they would harm her.
Nicky told the court the family last saw her in person in 2009, and contact over social media stopped in 2014 after she sent them a message on Facebook urging them to keep away. It said: “It is best to have minimum/no contact,” the court heard.
Her sister said: “As a family we believed that we were doing the right thing by respecting her wishes to have no contact with us. We knew that contact with us exacerbated her mental health difficulties.”
She added that the family had tried to visit Laura in January 2021 as her father’s health was deteriorating. After getting no response from her, New Vision Homes told her sister that due to privacy and confidentiality they could not help her.
She said when her brother and mother visited her flat and got no reply they decided to look through the letterbox.
She said: “They were shouting her name and looking through the letterbox. My brother saw what he thought was a seriously decomposed body.”
She added: “They called the police and forced entry. Inside they found a mummified and almost skeletal body. Both of them saw this and the shock can never be forgotten.”
The inquest continues.
