A woman who lay dead in her flat for three years wrote “I’m starving” and “I can’t believe I’m surviving this long” in calendar and diary entries prior to her death, an inquest has heard.
Laura Winham’s “mummified and almost skeletal” remains were found by her brother in her flat in Woking, Surrey, on May 24 2021.
Ms Winham, who was 41 when discovered, was found after her loved ones asked police to break into her home following concerns about her safety.
A pathologist told an inquest at Surrey Coroner’s Court that her cause of death was ‘unascertained’ and that it was impossible to narrow down a time of death. But a calendar in Ms Winham’s flat had dates crossed off until 1 November 2017, the court heard.
According to extracts from her diary, which were read out by coroner Dr Karen Henderson, Ms Winham was running low on food and money.
An entry dated September 28 2017 read: “My mobile gave up on 7 September. I got a Tesco run in before it died. I have slept weeks away… I haven’t stocked any food for months because I don’t know what’s happening.”
Other extracts suggested she had been living off potatoes and cheese and had “about five pounds left on me”, with one dated from October 2017 reading: “It has been a whole month since my last food shop. I cannot believe I have survived this long”.
Details of Ms Winham’s calendar were also read out to the court, which was attended by three members of her family. The vast majority of dates had been crossed off with short notes until 1 November 2017, when all entries stopped.
An extract from September 15 2017 read: “Wish I’d bought rice. Dreaming of (food). Anyway, I’m starving.” This was followed up with a series of meal recipes which Dr Henderson said “appeared to be from a cookbook with page numbers”.
Ms Winham’s sister Nicola previously told the court that her sister had developed a fear of leaving her flat and wrote notes on her calendar which specified days for online shopping and taking the bins out.
Pictures of her flat, which were taken by police following the discovery her body, were shown to the court on Thursday. The images showed a tube of margarine and tomato sauce in her fridge and a mixture of herbs, spices, salt and vinegar in her cupboards. Bags of loose change containing one and two pence pieces were also found by police.
The inquest heard that Ms Winham’s family had been unable to maintain contact with her after years of mental health struggles caused her to believe they would harm her.
Nicola told the inquest on Tuesday that they last saw her in person in 2009, and contact over social media had stopped in 2014 after she sent them a message on Facebook which read: “It is best to have minimum/no contact. And communications with the family. It is totally out of my hands. There is nothing I can do. Everything I say will get repeated and relayed back. Be patient.”
The family said they believed they were doing the right thing by respecting Ms Winham’s wishes to have no contact with them. Nicky told the court: “We knew that contact with us exacerbated her mental health difficulties.”
Susan Harrison, who chaired a safeguarding adults review panel following Ms Winham’s death, said during the inquest that “the family had done absolutely everything they could have done in these circumstances given Laura was so determined to keep them at arm’s length”.
Nicola also told the court that her brother and mother visited her flat after they became concerned about her welfare. When there was no response to their knocks, they decided to look through the letterbox.
She said: “They were shouting her name and looking through the letterbox. My brother saw what he thought was a seriously decomposed body.
“They called the police and forced entry. Inside they found a mummified and almost skeletal body.
“Both of them saw this and the shock can never be forgotten.”
All the evidence has now been heard in the inquest and the coroner is expected to set a date to issue her findings at a later stage.
