Laura Winham, Left Dead In Her Social Housing Flat For 3 Years Before Her Mummified Remains Were Discovered

Laura Winham was a 38 year old woman who fell through the cracks of a system that was designed to protect her.

Deaf and tormented by schizophrenia, she lived an isolated life, her struggles compounded by the bureaucratic cruelty of a welfare system that stripped away her Disability Living Allowance in 2016, replaced by Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system—one she was too overwhelmed to navigate, fearing the invasive medical examinations it required.

Her final years were marked by a chilling descent into starvation and neglect. In late September, Laura penned a desperate letter to an undisclosed person: “My mobile has given up the ghost on 7 September. It was lucky I made my last Tesco run on 4 September.” Her words, laced with quiet resignation, hinting at the bleakness of her reality. Her fridge and freezer were empty; she had just about £5 left. In her diary on October, she documented her harrowing endurance: “Whole month since my last food shop. I can’t believe I’m surviving this long.”

Laura’s refusal to stock up on food reflected her belief that her flat was on the brink of demolition. She lived in a fragile stasis, awaiting the uncertain yet inevitable erasure of her home on Devonshire Avenue in Woking. But the true demolition wasn’t her flat—it was Laura herself, eroded by neglect, left to wither in solitude.

On May 24th 2021 her skeletal remains were discovered by her mother, brother and police officers nearly four years after her death; mummified, curled into a fetal position atop a pile of clothes in her hallway. The pathologist at Surrey Coroner’s Court could not determine her exact time of death—Laura’s body had been abandoned for so long that even death’s evidence had decayed. However, her meticulously kept calendar told a haunting story. Every day until November 3, 2017, was marked off. It is believed she succumbed to starvation on November 2, unnoticed and unmourned. 

In the years leading up to her death, Laura’s plight had been clear to those who crossed her path. She was sectioned twice in 2017 and flagged as an “adult at risk” by Surrey County Council after police found her in a home devoid of food. Yet, these alerts were little more than empty gestures. A team attempted to reach Laura through a phone number they knew was disconnected and, failing that, sent a letter with a two week deadline. When no response came, they closed her case. The system, designed to protect, turned away from her once more.

Laura’s landlord, New Vision Homes, admitted during the inquest that her vulnerabilities were evident. Woking Borough Council acknowledged that it failed to properly flag her as a tenant with disabilities and mental health struggles, despite this knowledge spanning back years. A half hearted welfare check was performed when concerns were raised, but when no one answered the door, no follow up was made. Laura was abandoned, her cries for help drowned in the apathy of institutions.

Her estranged family, haunted by the guilt of respecting her request for distance, discovered her remains in May 2021. She had once believed they meant her harm, and in honoring her wishes, they unwittingly contributed to the silence that enveloped her. Their grief is an unending torment, the image of her decomposed body forever etched into their memories.

Laura Winham was not merely a victim of her illness—she was a casualty of systemic indifference. Deaf and unheard, vulnerable and unseen, she was allowed to fade into a death as lonely and desolate as her life. 

Her story stands as a chilling reminder of the cost of neglect in a society that prides itself on compassion. There can be NO excuses—Laura was abandoned and left to die in a way that no human being should EVER endure.