The body of a retired bookkeeper lay undiscovered in his flat for six years with his “skeletal” remains found only after housing officials forced entry to carry out a gas safety check, an inquest heard.
Robert Alton is believed to have died in 2017 aged 70, but his death went unnoticed by both his landlord, which continued to receive his rent automatically through housing benefit, and his local council, which seemingly failed to act on Alton’s mounting council tax arrears.
Officials who found Alton’s body when they gained entry to the flat in March also discovered a half-metre high pile of unopened post, food with 2017 expiry dates, and a pair of reading glasses placed on a TV guide for 4 May 2017.
Alton’s social landlord, Bolton at Home, has apologised, admitting it had missed opportunities to spot that something was wrong, while Bolton council said it would hold an internal inquiry to identify if and how it had failed to spot something was amiss.
A police investigation concluded there were no suspicious circumstances, while an inquest held this week heard it was not possible to determine a cause of death for Alton, of Hemsworth Road, Bolton.
The coroner, Peter Sigee, said: “On the balance of probabilities Mr Alton died in May 2017. I’m satisfied the appropriate conclusion is an open conclusion.”
The case is likely to reopen debate on how individuals can die at home and fall off the radar without neighbours, family and friends, or public agencies and utility providers either noticing or acting on their disappearance for long periods.
Recent high profile cases include Sheila Seleoane, a former medical secretary, who died in 2019 aged 61 but whose body was not discovered until February 2022, despite repeated complaints from her neighbours to her landlord Peabody about the smell coming from her flat in Peckham, south London.
The body of Laura Winham was found in her Surrey flat in May 2021 more than three years after her death. Winham, 38, who was severely mentally ill, had cut herself off from her family, who accused local NHS and social care agencies of effectively abandoning her.
Extreme social isolation appears to have been a factor in all three cases. Greater Manchester police put out a public appeal in March to help them trace Alton’s relatives, and obtain any other information about Alton that may be useful to them but so far no one has come forward.
Bolton at Home said it was unacceptable his body had remained undiscovered for so long. It admitted that in hindsight it should have spotted sooner that something was wrong.
The Bolton at Home chief executive, Noel Sharpe, said: “We made many attempts to contact Robert over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks. It’s clear that the action taken by us to understand why we couldn’t contact him didn’t go far enough.
“Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Robert’s welfare.”
It explained that at the time of Alton’s death its policy was to automatically cap gas supplies when it was unable to contact tenants to arrange a gas safety check. Though this was legal, it changed its approach in July 2022 to enable it to seek a warrant in such circumstances to gain entry to homes requiring gas tests.
Bolton council confirmed Alton had run up council tax arrears since 2017. A spokesperson for the council said: “This is a tragic case which has had a profound impact on the whole Bolton community. We are currently reviewing Mr Alton’s account to identify any potential missed opportunities to act sooner.”
They added: “Pending the outcome of this review, appropriate additional measures will be put in place with a view to preventing similar tragic cases in the future.”
