Accommodation & Apartments

Is your neighbour rotting, desiccating or mummifying?

This is a question most of us have never asked ourselves, but perhaps we should. There are alarming amounts of people being found dead in their homes, sometimes they have lain there for a year or more. Is your neighbour next?

This disturbing phenomenon seems to be increasingly frequent. Below we have detailed 13 cases of neighbours who have been found dead in their homes. In all 13 cases the deceased were discovered since 2001, although 10 of them have been in the last 3 years! This alarming trend must be reversed!

Reclusive woman lay dead for 3 weeks.

The first case we have was found in 2001 and had lain dead for 3 weeks. The old lady was a recluse, apart from her 30 cats she lived entirely alone. The milkman reported something amiss when her milk had not been removed from the doorstep for “a few days”.

First reported here

Mother lay dead for “months”.

This case is particularly disturbing as it involves an 83 year old mother who lived with her handicapped son. There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the lady’s death. Her son, who has a mental age of 10, is thought not to have known what to do when his mother passed away.

First reported here

Man lived in caravan with dead brother for 18 months.

A 72 year old man called police to report that he hadn’t seen his brother “for a couple of days” and he had found him dead. In actual fact his older brother had lain dead in the next room for 18 months! It is reported that the brothers, despite living together in a caravan led mainly separate lives.

First reported here

Man found 6 years after passing away

6, yes six, years after dying this 63 year old man was found fully clothed in his council flat. A succession of officials visited the flat to collect unpaid bills and the local council even declared his flat empty 5 years before his body was found.

First reported here

3 year old boy lay with dead mother for 2 weeks

When his mother died suddenly a 3 year old boy was unable to get out of the flat or to attract the attention of neighbours. The tragedy of a child of this age losing a parent is made all the greater by having to share a flat with the deceased for 2 weeks.

First reported here

Elderly Brother and Sister lay dead for two months

The alarm was raised by a friend of the pair who had not heard from them for some time. Neighbours very rarely saw the pair as, like so many others on this list, they were described as being rather reclusive.

First reported here

Dead for 2 years, but not missed

Neither friends nor neighbours reported anything amiss. The 40 year old woman lay in her tiny flat for 2 years with the heating and television on constantly. The grizzly truth was only uncovered when the local housing authority drilled the lock after rent arrears were flagged.

First reported here

Woman lay dead for one month

This 68 year old lady lay dead for one month in her rented one bedroom flat. Thankfully staff of the company who managed her rental flat raised the alarm promptly, it makes it no less tragic for her family.

First reported here

Man lay dead in his flat for up to a year

This man was only found when an eviction team from the council went to his flat. A local councillor appealed for a system to be implemented in order to avoid this occurring again in future.

First reported here

80 year old woman lay dead for nine months

Neighbours alerted authorities complaining of a bad smell, it is hard to believe that it took 9 months for them to notice. Unusually this case was treated as a potential murder, with the woman’s son being released on bail.

First reported here

Man lay dead in bed for two years.

It is not known how this man’s body was eventually discovered. His body was undetected for so long as all his bills were paid by direct debit and, like so many other people on this list was extremely reclusive.

First reported here

79 year old man lay dead for 2 months

This man’s body had to be identified by dental records. A neighbour alerted police after he had not seen the victim for some time.

First reported here

Pensioner lay dead for a year

Our last case involves an 81 year old woman who is believed to have lain dead for a year. The police were alerted after a relative called for a visit and found no answer. As with most cases on our list the death is not being treated as suspicious and again the victim was reclusive.

First reported here

Is this really necessary?

We have to ask ourselves as a society is there nothing we can do in this day and age to stop this from happening with such alarming frequency? Of these 13 British cases 10 of them occurred in the past 3 years, this hopefully is not a trend that will continue.

Do you have any ideas on how to remedy this ongoing tragic situation?

4 Responses to “Do you have dead neighbours?”