This story is shocking: why are the Met and Housing services so bad, and why do we put up with it?

[GreenLunchBox]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11019143/Picture-medical-secretary-lay-dead-London-flat-two-half-years-revealed.html?ito=native_share_article-masthead

Where were her family?

A very sad story, but didn't her family check on her? Wasn't she missed at work?

This is just a poorly written article so haven't read in full, did anyone at anytime report her missing to the police?

The article says that her only relative in the U.K. is a convicted murderer, so she probably didn’t have contact with him. The rest are in South Africa and she’d never met them.

Maybe I missed it in the article as it’s not written well but why are you blaming the police?

If you read the article you will know.

Very sad, but how is the Met and housing services in any way to blame?! She apparently led her life in a way that touched nobody else's, which is tragic, but who can be held to blame for that?

I was just reading this having a little cry 😢 RIP Sheila xxx

Oh I’ve read right to the bottom now!

because the police were called to do a welfare check on her. They reported back that she was OK but she couldn't have been because at that point she had already been dead for quite some time.

I think it is because the article says that police called around to carry out a welfare check as requested by concerned neighbours. At this point she would have been dead for about a year but the police report said that they had made contact with her and she was alive & well. This obviously was not true.

Ah. Missed that.

She had a job? And none of her work colleagues wandered where she was?
How about council tax, if I am five minutes late with mine they start chasing me.
And the police said they had managed to talk to her in October of 2020. This is a very bizarre story.

They could have made contact with somebody in the flat, perhaps? Given that footsteps were also reported. They still should have made sure they saw the person.

How desperately sad she was there and no one investigated more thoroughly.

Why is anyone to blame for this? This is bizarre. She had no family except a convicted murderer who she presumably lost contact with. Why is anyone to blame if she didn't have friends or a relationship and social life? Should someone be in charge of checking in on everyone in the entire country to see how they're doing?

I agree.

Should someone be in charge of checking in on everyone in the entire country to see how they're doing?

If there’s the unmistakable smell of a decomposing body, yes. That really cannot be confused with any smaller animal, believe me.

The problem for the police is that there would be an outcry if they just battered down the doors of people's flats because no one had seen them for a while. A few days on Mumsnet will tell you that a lot of people just won't open their doors. So you can imagine them knocking and calling out and not hearing sounds of distress from within and leaving. Quite a lot of people go away for months or years, specially those who have family they might visit in another country. They wouldn't be happy to come home to find the police had broken in to their home because they weren't around.

Likewise Peabody can't just barge in to people's homes, again just read Mumsnet to see how much people object to their landlords wanting entry.

What I take from this is the importance of maintaining social contact, even on a minimal level, with those around us.

Surely the police shouldn't report that evrything is OK when it couldn't possily have been.

I recall stories like this Forty odd years ago friends OH was a housing officer. He found a few bodies. If rent is paid etc they slip through the net.

So who the hell did the police make contact with??

The Met officers reported that they’d attended the flat and spoken to the resident who was ok —- she’d been dead a year at that time. So they went to the wrong flat? Or falsified a report?
Also the smell of a decaying body should be obvious , it’s a distinctive smell,
and several neighbours had complained to the HA about the smell plus mail piling up…… Work colleagues noted she wasn’t at work but was she still being paid, how was her rent paid etc… Notice to say gas would be cut off ( presumably bill unpaid) yet it wasn’t. There needs to be an investigation really as a lot of mistakes made.
A very sad story with the only positive being the poor lady didn’t know the aftermath of her death. I hope she didn’t suffer.

The neighbours complained of a dreadful smell. The police went to the flat then reported back to that all was well. When she was found to have died years later the police said they had attended the property when that neighbour complained but decided not to go in

The notice that she'd be cut off was stuck to the inside of the (locked)door if I read correctly.

Also neighbours reported footsteps in her apartment a few months after she had died on two occasions. Then her windows, which had been closed, were banging open. Is it possible somebody had broken into the flat, discovered the decaying body but not reported it because they'd have to explain how they knew?

I find it worrying that so many people are dismissing this as nobody's fault. Both the police and housing association were told about a foul smell. Letters were building up in her letterbox. Her gas company stuck a notice on her door threatening to cut off her supply. One neighbour repeatedly reported her suspicions that she had died and was ignored. It was actually a different neighbour that persuaded the police to visit twice. They claimed she was ok despite not being able to make contact. There were reasons to suspect she wasn't ok and that they needed to break into the house to check on her. It wasn't just somebody reporting they hadn't seen their neighbour in a few days.