Laura Winham’s heartbreaking diary entries were read out at her inquest
A woman who lay dead in her flat for three years had written heartbreaking updates in her diary before her death. An inquest heard Laura Winham had harrowingly written “I’m starving” and “I can’t believe I’m surviving this long” in a diary and on a calendar discovered inside her flat by investigators.
Ms Winham’s “mummified and almost skeletal” body was discovered by her brother in her Woking, Surrey flat on May 24, 2021. The 41 year old’s family had asked police to force entry into her home due to growing concerns for her welfare.
A pathologist at Surrey Coroner’s Court stated the cause of death was ‘unascertained’, and pinpointing the time of death was not possible. However, a calendar found in Ms Winham’s flat had dates crossed off up to November 1, 2017. Coroner Dr Karen Henderson read extracts from Ms Winham’s diary indicating she was struggling with food and finances.
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One entry from September 28, 2017, mentioned her mobile phone dying on September 7 and managing a Tesco run before losing contact. She wrote about sleeping for weeks and not stocking food for months due to uncertainty.
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Further diary notes described subsisting on potatoes and cheese, having only “about five pounds left on me”, and expressing disbelief at surviving a month since her last grocery shop in October 2017.
Details of Ms Winham’s calendar were shared in court, with three family members present. The majority of dates had been marked off with brief notes until 1 November 2017, when the entries ceased. An entry from 15 September 2017 read: “Wish I’d bought rice. Dreaming of (food). Anyway, I’m starving.”
This was followed by a list of meal recipes that Dr Henderson noted “appeared to be from a cookbook with page numbers”. Ms Winham’s sister Nicola had previously informed the court about her sister’s anxiety over leaving her flat, and how she used her calendar to note days for online shopping and bin disposal.
Photographs of her flat, taken by police after her body was found, were displayed in court on Thursday. These images revealed a fridge containing a tub of margarine and tomato sauce, and cupboards with an assortment of herbs, spices, salt, and vinegar.
Police also discovered bags filled with one and two pence coins. The inquest was told Ms Winham’s family had lost contact with her due to her mental health issues, which led her to fear they would harm her.
Nicola recounted at the inquest on Tuesday how their last in-person encounter was in 2009, and that by 2014, social media interactions had ceased after receiving a Facebook message from her which stated: “It is best to have minimum/no contact. And communications with the family. It is totally out of my hands. There is nothing I can do. Everything I say will get repeated and relayed back. Be patient.”
The family believed they were respecting Ms Winham’s wishes for no contact, as Nicky explained to the court: “We knew that contact with us exacerbated her mental health difficulties.”
Susan Harrison, who presided over the safeguarding adults review panel following Ms Winham’s passing, mentioned during the inquest that “the family had done absolutely everything they could have done in these circumstances given Laura was so determined to keep them at arm’s length”. Nicola also described how her brother and mother went to Laura’s flat concerned for her welfare, and without a reply to their knocking, peered through the letterbox.
She said: “They were shouting her name and looking through the letterbox. My brother saw what he thought was a seriously decomposed body. They called the police and forced entry. Inside they found a mummified and almost skeletal body. Both of them saw this and the shock can never be forgotten.”
All the evidence has now been presented in the inquest and it is anticipated that the coroner will set a date to release her findings at a later stage.
