Failure to check on Laura Winham a sign of ‘systemic’ problems, court told

Social workers did not carry out adequate checks on woman later found dead after three years, coroner hears

Social workers’ failure to carry out adequate checks weeks before a vulnerable woman with a severe mental illness died alone in her home was a sign of “systemic” deficiencies, a coroner’s court has heard.

The body of Laura Winham, who is believed to have died in November 2017 at 38, lay undisturbed in her flat in Woking, Surrey, for three and a half years before the discovery of her “skeletal and mummified” remains by police and family members. Winham’s family has argued she was “abandoned” by local agencies.