Woman found ‘mummified and almost skeletal’ after being ‘left to fend for herself’

The family of a woman who lay dead in her flat for over three years and was found “mummified” and “almost skeletal” have criticised social services for failing to support a “vulnerable person”.

Laura Winham’s remains were , Surrey, on May 24, 2021, after relatives asked police to break into her home amid concerns for her safety.

An inquest held at Surrey Coroner’s Court ruled her cause of death was “unascertained” and found it was impossible to narrow down a time of death, but a calendar in Ms Winham’s flat had dates crossed off until November 1 2017.

Coroner Karen Henderson ruled on Tuesday that there were “lost opportunities” for multiple agencies in the run-up to her death, including Woking Borough Council and its former contractor, New Vision Homes, the Department for Work and Pensions (), and Surrey County Council’s adult social care team.

The court heard that after a police referral in October 2017, the county council’s adult social care team called and wrote to Ms Winham offering advice about food banks but did not visit the property.

Closing the inquest, Dr Henderson described the team’s investigation as “perfunctory in almost every way” but added it was not possible to conclude these “lost opportunities materially contributed” to Ms Winham’s death at the age of 41.

In a statement issued by Ms Winham’s sister and brother, Nicky and Roy, the pair said: “We want Laura to be remembered for who she was—a bright, fun-loving, extremely caring and engaging girl with a beautiful infectious laugh and a cheeky sense of humour, a love for practical jokes, and a nurturing nature with younger children and animals.

“Growing up, as siblings we were lucky to be part of an ordinary, loving and stable family where our father worked full-time and our mother stayed at home raising us.

“As siblings growing up family life was the usual mix of seeing family friends and enjoying close relationships with grandparents, playing out on our bikes and enjoying daily family dinners and annual family holidays to the Isle of Wight.

“In later years, before her illness, Laura demonstrated the skills to become a very talented painter, completing an elephant mural at the Newcomen Centre for Children at Guy’s Hospital. She had a great life ahead of her.”

The court previously heard Ms Winham’s family last saw her in person in 2009 and contact over social media stopped in 2014 after she sent them a message on Facebook which read: “It is best to have minimum/no contact. And communications with the family. It is totally out of my hands. There is nothing I can do. Everything I say will get repeated and relayed back. Be patient.”

The family said they believed they were doing the right thing by respecting Ms Winham’s wishes to have no contact with them. Her sister Nicky told the court: “We knew that contact with us exacerbated her mental health difficulties.”

Despite this, the family often passed by to check Ms Winham’s car was still outside her flat. Nicky and Roy continued: “It was in 2006, in her mid-20s, that we as a family first lost Laura. That is when our much-loved sister became so very ill and delusional with reality.

“Her mental illness caused her to fear persecution, abduction and led her to believe that her family and friends, who all loved her so much, were part of a conspiracy to cause her severe harm.

“We repeatedly reached out to offer love and support, but as her mental health worsened, we were out of our depth.”

The statement continued: “Imagine one of your loved ones, stood on a cliff edge and telling you that if you took one step forwards towards them they would go over, but if you stepped back, they would stay. That was the position we were in.

“We wanted to help her and see her, but feared that if we didn’t respect her wishes, we would lose her.

“It was a tragic situation and we found ourselves having to make the extremely tough decision to hand her over to a secure unit so that she could get the help she needed.

“We believed we had taken the safest possible steps and were doing the right thing. We took comfort in knowing she had her own home and was entitled to both living and housing benefits, and, believing she would be appropriately supported and monitored, lived in the hope that with the right medication and support, we would see her well again and be reunited with her.

“Sadly, that opportunity never came. We were never able to get close to Laura again. Laura should never have lost her life to mental health and we hope no other family goes through what we have, trying to navigate the mental health service with no prior experience and certainly not enough support.

“We hope Laura’s legacy could be her being the catalyst for change in our system, ensuring lessons are learned so that families who see a loved one change before their eyes because of mental illness have the support they need and deserve to help bring that loved one back into their lives again.”

According to extracts from her diary, which were read out by Dr Henderson, Ms Winham was running low on food and money in 2017. An entry dated September 28 2017 read: “My mobile gave up on September 7. I got a Tesco run in before it died. I have slept weeks away… I haven’t stocked any food for months because I don’t know what’s happening.”

Other extracts suggested she had been living off potatoes and cheese and had “about five pounds left on me”, with one dated from October 2017 reading: “It has been a whole month since my last food shop. I cannot believe I have survived this long”.

In a further statement read out by the family’s solicitor, Iftikhar Manzoor, alongside Ms Winham’s brother Roy and mother Marilyn, they said: “When Laura was referred to adult social care in October 2017, as the police raised concerns as to her having little food or money and being without a network of friends or family, all that happened was a letter that was sent and that was a huge opportunity missed to assess Laura’s health and to take action.

“Laura was clearly a person potentially at risk but she wasn’t deemed worthy of visiting. She was left to fend herself. Even her own diary entries illustrate she was unable to cope. Had adult social care visited Laura’s home within a few days of the referral in October 2017 then Laura would be alive.”

They continued: “The circumstances of Laura’s death have been absolutely devastating for her loved ones. They are a caring and loving family who I have come to know well over the past few years.

“Laura was a much-loved, much-missed daughter and sister. Her family did everything in their power to support her as she battled her mental health struggles until it became apparent that she may harm herself unless they backed away.

“They believed Laura would be in the best possible hands when handing her into the care of professionals – people with much more knowledge and understanding of supporting those with serious mental health issues.

“Sadly in this instance that was not the case. The safeguarding review made it clear that Laura was never failed by her family. They sought professional help but input was lost from people who truly loved her. Laura and her family need a system that cared enough about vulnerable person.

“Laura’s death must act as a catalyst for change.”

Claire Edgar, Executive Director of Adults, Wellbeing and Health Partnerships at Surrey County Council, apologised for Laura not getting “the support she needed”.

In a statement, she said: “This is a terribly sad case and my thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Laura’s family for their loss and the distress they have suffered.

“I am sorry Laura did not get the support she needed and I know that the service has worked hard to act on learning from this case. Since joining the council last year, my focus has been on making sure that the significant improvements the service has made in recent years are maintained and built upon.

“We will carefully consider the coroner’s findings so that everything possible is done to make sure that our practice is as good as it can be. We will also continue to work with our partners to ensure all wider learning is acted on.”

Dr Henderson also ruled that had Woking Borough Council and New Vision Homes – WBC’S landlord contractor from 2015 to April 2022 – flagged Ms Winham as vulnerable then it would have been evident she required further assistance.

The coroner also said the should have been “more proactive” after Ms Winham’s Disability Living Allowance benefit was stopped because she chose not to apply for a Personal Independence Payment.

The court heard she chose not to apply because “she could not cope with the invasive medical check-up”. But Dr Henderson said it was impossible to conclude these “lost opportunities materially contributed” to Ms Winham’s death.