Posted on 04/14/2006 5:52:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
14 April 2006
WOMAN LAY DEAD FOR 2 YEARS..WITH TV ON
Grisly find as bedsit repossessed
By MARTIN FRICKER
A WOMAN lay dead in her front room for more than two years with the TV and radiator on, an inquest heard.
Joyce Vincent’s skeletal remains were surrounded by unwrapped Christmas presents when they were found.
A bowl of washing-up sat in the kitchen sink and the tragic 40-year-old’s fridge was full of items bearing a “best before” date of November 2003.
Her corpse was so badly decomposed that dental records and a photo of her smiling were used for identification.
A housing association officer had taken a locksmith to repossess the bedsit above a shop in Wood Green, North London – and they found post stacked high on the other side of the door once they had drilled through it.
Caretaker Kevin Mann, who entered the property with police, said the smell was “absolutely horrendous”.
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Describing the scene in the front room, which doubled as a bedroom, Mann said: “There was this body lying on her back on the sofa with a shopping bag next to her. She looked like she’d just come back from shopping.”
Neighbour Mickel Dobbs said he began to detect a “rotten” smell a year ago and saw “little black insects” crawling through his open window.
Vincent was born in Hammersmith, West London. Her family told the Hornsey inquest she had been placed in the bedsit in February 2003 as a victim of domestic violence.
She was engaged but it was not known if she had got married. Half of her rent was paid by benefits, giving housing chiefs the impression she was still active in the property.
But the Metropolitan Housing Trust went to repossess it in January when Vincent’s arrears ran into thousands.
A spokeswoman for the trust said: “We extend our deepest sympathies.”
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death.
Pathologist Dr Simon Poole said he could not establish a cause of death but estimated she had been dead since 2003.
Deputy coroner Andrew Walker recorded an open verdict.
I hope whatever she was watching has been cancelled!
The "Dead Zone" marathon broadcast.
It's incomprehensible to me how a woman with family could die in her apartment and be left there for two years with no family inquiries.
sad
Sad that she died and no one cared enough to check. Must have been an lonely human being.
Prolly wot will happen to In Hoc...
Who was paying her electric bill for 2 years?
BBC broadcasts will do that to you.
So is daily dose of Independent.
Heck, that's nothing. I've got stuff in my 'fridge with "best before" dates in Roman numerals.
---and more--
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1614422/posts
You'd think that they utility company would have cut off service when she did not pay.
Simply amazing that none of her family checked up on her.
Yeah, she wasn't very close to her sister(s).
So sad. She didn't even know that Brad and Jennifer broke up :(
My ex did essentially the same thing, then finally got off her ass one day to go file for divorce.
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