UK: Schizophrenic woman lay dead in Surrey flat for over 3 years, kin slam care services

Laura Winham, a 38-year-old woman from Surrey who had schizophrenia, was found in a “mummified, almost skeletal state” in her council flat in May 2021 after laying dead for more than three years, according to reports. Winham's family alleged that her dead body went unnoticed by the National Health Service (NHS) and the social services who had missed repeated chances to save her. According to a report by the Daily Mail on Thursday (January 26), Laura Winham, who was believed to have died in November 2017, had scrawled "I need help"on her calendar shortly before her death.

Winham's family reluctantly kept away from her because the woman's schizophrenia caused her to believe that they would harm her, the report said. Eventually, her brother Roy and mother Marilyn decided to try making contact again in May 2021. The report said that peering through the letterbox, her brother noticed something under a blanket which resembled a foot and called the police, who then broke in and found Laura Winham's body.

The family also said that welfare and care services had not only failed to act on clear signs of Winham's deteriorating health in the months and years before her death but had also subsequently neglected to carry out routine checks that would have led to the discovery of her body, a report by the Guardian on Thursday said. During the period when Winham's body lay undisturbed, no attempts to establish her well-being were made despite her disability benefits being stopped and her gas cut off and also her repeated failure to reply to any letters, phone calls and texts and even answering the door, it added.

Nicky, Laura's sister, accused the victim's landlords, social care and mental health services of turning a blind eye to multiple warning signs of her plight. Nicky said that everybody who was in contact with Winham "and had a duty to her" at some stage simply wiped their hands off her and forgot her. Nicky added that her sister was abandoned and left to die, the Guardian report further said.

Winham's family now wants to know how social services and health teams missed so many warning signs, ahead of a pre-inquest hearing on January 30.

Back in 2014, Laura Winham was referred to local community mental health services, after a housing association staff member reported that she appeared to have “untreated mental health issues”, and was physically very thin. The staff member said that Winham had no friends and believed she was being watched by people.

Two years later, the Department for Work and Pensions wrote to Winham several times to warn that her disability living allowance was ending and she would have to re-apply. However, upon receiving no response from the woman, her benefits were cut without carrying out any welfare check, the Guardian report said.

And in October 2017, a month before Winham's death, the Surrey Police reported to social services that she was self-neglecting and had little food. However, social workers, despite being informed that her phone was not working,tried calling and then simply wrote to her, providing contacts of local food banks and support teams, the DailyMail report said. When there was no response, her case was closed without any contact ever being made.

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