Woman lies dead in London flat for 2.5 years, landlord continued to collect money

Nothing has been done with signals that something had happened to the woman, according to a critical report that British media write about. In fact, the landlord turned off the gas because the resident did not pay the bill, while the monthly rent continued.

Sheila Sleoane, who had no friends or close family, is believed to have died in August 2019 at her flat in London’s Peckham borough. She was last seen at a doctor’s visit when she suffered from intestinal inflammation. Food items found in the refrigerator have an expiration date of August 2019.

She hadn’t paid rent since that month either, something she did manually. A few months later, an application was made to remove the rent from her allowance, and it was approved. And that while there has been no contact with the woman.

The housing association therefore continued to receive money. But the gas bill was also not paid, so in June 2020 it was decided to cut off the gas in the flat.

Maggots and flies

Meanwhile, neighbors repeatedly contacted the housing association and the police. In the autumn of 2019, they already made reports of ‘maggots and flies’ at the door, and also of ‘a corpse smell’. They later reported Sheila missing. But nobody really came into action to see how the resident was doing.

Employees of the housing association were unable to contact the woman. So they switched to sending emails, letters, texts to the woman. But of course there was no response.

Police carried out two checks in October 2020 following new reports from neighbors, but officers felt they did not have enough reason to look inside. After the second check, the housing association was wrongly told by the police that Sheila had been found ‘safe and well’. It all turned out to be a misunderstanding.

Skeleton in pajamas

Until February 2022, Sheila’s death went undetected. A police officer saw storm damage to the balcony door of her apartment. Officers entered the house and saw a skeleton in the living room, in blue pajamas. She could be identified from dental records. The cause of death could no longer be determined.