Hunt for key witness after death of woman whose 'mummified' body lay undiscovered in her flat for four years
30 January 2023, 22:35
A gas engineer could be one of the last people to have seen a woman who died and was left undiscovered in her flat for four years.
Laura Winham, who was severely mentally ill and disabled, was left lying dead in her flat in Surrey for four years before someone came across her in a "mummified, almost skeletal" condition.
Laura Winham, who was schizophrenic, wrote on her calendar "I need help" shortly before she died, but no one from social services or anyone else in her support network checked in on her.
Ms Winham's gas and electric bills continued to be paid automatically through her benefits payments, and an annual gas safety check had also been carried out.
It had been thought the 38-year-old schizophrenic died in November 2017 following "self-neglect".
At a pre-inquest review into Ms Winham's death today, concerns were raised about her "irregular" signature of a gas certificate from January 2018.
Her family's lawyer Kate O’Raghallaigh, said contractor Mears Ltd had provided a certificate which did not appear to match Ms Winham's other signatures.
This remains "a very important line of inquiry", Ms O'Raghallaigh told Surrey Coroners' Court today.
She added: "It may be that the court will undertake further inquiries over whether he [engineer] can be located because in one version of events."
This visit may have been the last time Ms Winham was seen alive, after which her gas was shut off.
Efforts are now underway to locate the gas engineer.
She had reportedly asked her family to stay away out of fear for their safety, as she heard voices in her head telling her to harm them.
But they asked police to carry out a welfare check on Ms Winham, 38, in May 2021 at her home in Woking, in Surrey, after her brother peered through the window and saw what he thought was a foot.
Ms Winham had a condition called Goldenhar Syndrome, a rare congenital condition that causes abnormal development of the ear, eye and spine.
She had struggled with her mental health since her early teenage years.
Her sister Nicky told the MailOnline: "We always hoped she would get better with professional help and that one day our contact would resume.
"We never believed, for one second, we would end up finding her dead on her floor having laid there for so long without anyone knowing."
"Laura has been so badly let down. It's just heart-breaking to think of how she lived in her last few years, unable to ask for help, without anyone there for her, it's just tragic," her sister said.
