Laura Winham: Council failed to follow up on police concerns for vulnerable woman who lay dead in flat for years, says family

A 38-year-old vulnerable woman, whose body was found three years after her death, was “abandoned and left to die” by social and mental health services, according to her family.

Laura Winham’s remains were found by her brother in her flat in Woking, Surrey, in May 2021, after she died in November 2017.

A pre-inquest review at Surrey Coroner’s Court heard the county council failed to follow up on police concerns.

Kate O’Raghallaigh, representing the Winham family at the review, said Surrey police officers visited the woman’s flat when she was still alive in October 2017.

She said the police reported concerns, that she had been neglecting herself and had little access to food, to Surrey County Council.

“There was a risk to Laura of malnutrition and self-neglect in October 2017 when she was observed by police,” Ms O’Raghallaigh said.

But the council failed to follow up on these concerns, the hearing was told.

The inquest heard that the exact date of death is unknown – a calendar in Ms Winham’s flat had dates crossed off until November 2017.

Her body was found in May 2021 – three-and-a-half years after her death – when Ms Winham’s family said they asked police to break into her home after they grew concerned for her safety.

A cause of death has yet to be determined, which Ms O’Raghallaigh described as a “very unusual factor in this case”.

Katie Ayers, representing the county council, said the authority accepts a care assessment for Ms Winham should have been done after the police visit.

“What Surrey County Council has accepted is that a section nine check should have been completed but it was not,” she said.

Ms Ayers added: “There may have been a risk in relation to malnutrition. At this stage that would seem to be speculative.”

Ms O’Raghallaigh asked assistant coroner Dr Karen Henderson to engage a forensic anthropologist to investigate whether Ms Winham’s death was caused by malnutrition and establish a window of time in which she may have died.

Dr Henderson said she will provide a written decision on the matter in the coming weeks.

She scheduled another pre-inquest review for 15 March and set a provisional full hearing date for 3 April.

The review previously heard that Ms Winham was found in a “mummified almost skeletal state”.

Her sister Nicky Winham said the family was unable to maintain contact with her as years of schizophrenia had led her to believe they would harm her.