The shocking discovery of 61-year-old Sheila Seleoane’s body in Nunhead throws open so many questions on how we better care and watch out for our neighbours – but most importantly how those in authority act upon our concerns.
For those living near to Sheila the realisation that this poor woman could have lain dead for years must have been upsetting – each one of them wondering whether they could have done more. But in documents seen by this paper it is clear that they did contact the housing association Peabody, who in return contacted the police, yet she was still left for what could have been over a year.
An investigation continues to determine the chain of events, but from what we know little appears to have been done between police welfare visits in October 2020 and the discovery of her body on February 18 this year.
Local MP Harriet Harman has weighed in saying Peabody does not listen to tenants and she would appear right in this case, as residents are reported to have made 40 to 50 complaints about the ‘horrendous smell’ emerging from the dwelling.
In fact it had to take an almighty storm like Eunice to see any real action. Peabody say they have not got the ‘legal powers to forcibly enter a property’ and the Met said it was ‘not deemed by the officers that there were sufficient grounds to enter the premises.’
Letters were sent, but what good are they if a person is either dead or incapacitated?
We can only hope this poor woman, who was still relatively young, did not suffer too much. The systems in place to both safeguard and respond to residents’ concerns failed in an appalling way and so Peabody and other authorities should be looking and making immediate changes to their system, to ensure that this never happens again.