Bodies of woman and daughter lay undiscovered at home for five months

An elderly woman and her daughter were failed by care services, who may be responsible for the death or one or both women, a hard-hitting investigation has found.

The bodies of the 83-year-old mum and her daughter, 56, were only found after five months when neighbours, who had not seen the pair for months, reported seeing flies and noticed a smell coming from their flat in Redbridge, north-east London and reported it to .

Officers found the women, , when officers forced entry to their home in June last year. An investigation has now revealed how they were failed by care services, which may have led to “the death of one or both of the women”.

In the report, commissioned by Redbridge town hall, the mother is referred to by the pseudonym Jasmine and her daughter the name Rowena, in a bid to protect their remaining family members.

It states: “The police found the bodies of both women in a state of decomposition. Jasmine was in her bedroom and Rowena in the hall, with no signs of violence or any previous forced entry. The flat evidenced conditions of neglect and hoarding.”

A post mortem revealed Jasmine had died from pneumonia and a chest abscess, whilst her daughter had died from heart disease.

Months earlier, on January 6, 2023, the Met was called to a neighbour dispute at the women’s home and recorded “bizarre behaviour” and having to “demand to see Jasmine who was bed-bound”.

Officers stated that Rowena could not look after her mother and said neighbours reported “ongoing strange encounters and outbursts” from the daughter who had seen a “huge deterioration in her mental health”.

The force raised a safeguarding concern with the local authority that same month, but when social services and GPs were unable to contact the women they did not follow up.

The report criticised safeguarding procedures which it states "appear to have been left in limbo, with no managerial overview or monitoring".

The report added that this multi-agency failure in procedure potentially resulted in the death of one of, if not both of the women.

Redbridge Council confirmed that it would be updating its "dealing with emergencies" policy in light of the report's findings.