Serious questions have been raised after authorities missed numerous opportunities to help a woman who lay dead in her Nunhead home for months.
The body of 61-year-old Sheila Seleoane was discovered on 18 February in Lord’s Court, after Storm Eunice left her balcony door swinging open and shut. Her body is thought to have lain undetected for many months.
In documents seen by the News, both Peabody housing association and the police attended the property several times in the months leading up to her discovery.
The earliest date Peabody allegedly recorded on their system where a neighbourhood raised concerns about Sheila was in June 2020.
It is noted that a neighbour reported a concern to Peabody saying they hadn’t seen or heard from the resident since April 2020 and letters were wedged in and around the door.
In April 2020, a Peabody engineer was sent to carry out a gas safety check at the property “but was not able to gain access”.
Throughout July, August and September it has been reported that Peabody tried to contact Sheila many times via calling and leaving voicemail messages – to no avail.
A strong smell coming from Sheila’s flat was reported by a neighbour on 19 October 2020. One day later the documents claim that a neighbourhood manager at Peabody tried to reach the resident by knocking on the door, which was unanswered.
MP for Peckham and Camberwell Harriet Harman said “internal failings” within the housing association were to blame for the body’s late discovery. She cited questions surrounding whether or not the gas was turned off. Plus it has been reported that the tenant had thousands of pounds worth of unpaid rent.
Peabody’s records list August 2019 as the last active transaction where Sheila paid off her rent until April 2020.
“It really should not have taken them this long,” says Harman.
In a statement, Peabody chief executive, Ian McDermott said: “Clearly looking back the red flags were there. It should have been obvious to us that Sheila had either abandoned the property or something was very wrong.”
“Even with the challenges of lockdowns, we should have done better. I don’t think it was because we didn’t care.”
Harman also believed it was “hard to reconcile” what the police and Peabody had said about Sheila’s death, and that “it could not be the case that she was safe and well.”
Police attended Sheila’s house for a welfare visit on two occasions in October 2020 after they were contacted by a local resident and the housing association.
“It was not deemed by the officers that there were sufficient grounds to enter the premises,” said a spokesperson from the Met. They added: “The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards have looked at the officers’ actions and not found any reason to launch an investigation.”
Peabody’s McDermott said: “After we were told by the police that everything was fine, we didn’t assume the worst.”
A spokesperson for the housing association added that they had made “repeated attempts to contact Ms Seleoane”, and they “do not have the legal powers to forcibly enter a property.”
“We rely on the police to do this,” they added.
In December 2021, a neighbour reported that Sheila’s balcony door was banging open in the wind. In the months running up to December, a Peabody neighbourhood manager had allegedly attended the block to carry out estate inspections. Nothing unusual was noted.
Harman blamed Peabody’s poor communication, saying it “just didn’t listen to tenants”, who complained about a horrible stench coming from the flat repeatedly for months.
She claimed that Peabody did “not communicate with tenants” when the body was recovered from the flat, and sent round an email afterwards, instead of reassuring tenants with letters or door to door visits.
Peabody has apologised to residents and commissioned an independent, external investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sheila’s death.
Harman added: “Peabody has got to learn lessons, it’s a cliché, but this is a real wake up call.”
“Something or a number of things have gone wrong,” said McDermott. “We know that’s not good enough and we need to learn from this.”
“Until we’ve completed the investigation we don’t have the answers,” he added.
Harman believed that the events surrounding Sheila’s death are “telling a much bigger story”.
“It is important that social housing works well … Having good systems these things matter irrespective of the awfulness of the death, they should matter to all tenants,” she said.