A council has apologised after one of its tenants lay dead in her Surrey flat for more than three years. Laura Winham, 41, was found dead in her flat in Woking by her mother and brother in May 2021. Following the conclusion of the inquest into Ms Winham’s death on Tuesday, Woking Borough Council apologised for failings within its housing service.
The inquest heard how Ms Winham’s body was “mummified and almost skeletal” when it was found at her council flat in Devonshire Avenue. Her cause and time of death could not be determined but a calendar in the flat was crossed off until 1 November 2017.
Ms Winham was a vulnerable woman with schizophrenia who had twice been sectioned and had cut ties with her family because she thought they were trying to harm her. The inquest heard that Woking Borough Council, its former property manager New Vision Homes, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Surrey County Council had all missed opportunities to help Ms Winham.
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