Laura Winham death: Family battled privacy law as sister lay dead

The family of a woman who lay dead in a flat for more than three years have told how they were unable to have any contact because of privacy laws, and how they eventually found her body.

Laura Winham, 38, had schizophrenia and had refused contact with family who she believed were trying to harm her.

Her brother Roy said the family were unable to get information about her.

After repeated attempts to contact her, they found her when they peered through the letter box of her Woking flat.

Laura’s body was discovered in May 2021 but is thought to have died in November 2017.

Her siblings said she grew up in a loving family and attended school and university, but developed mental health problems and did not return home after the first time she was sectioned.

The family took a decision to limit contact because it put her under “enormous stress”, but believed she would have a care plan.

However, they could not get any information.

“She refused contact from the mental health team with her family, which she was allowed to do, which prevented doctors from speaking to us, or hospitals,” her sister Nicky said.

They continued sending letters, text messages and cards.

Roy told the PM programme on Radio 4 it had been “very difficult”, adding: “Thirty-six years of all of that and then it’s taken away from you because of privacy.”

When their father became ill, they stepped up attempts to make contact. After he died, they continued to call at her flat.

On their last visit, they were about to leave when Roy decided to take another look.

“When I peered through the letter box, it looked like blankets was there, but as I looked down I thought I saw a foot,” he said.

“There was a top, that hoodie she had on, that I thought was in with the blankets and things.

“That’s when I managed to get a little bit more of an angle, really pushing the brushes aside, and you could see the face, the body, which, after calling the ambulance, they said ‘do you think she’s still alive?’.”

He said: “Something made me go back up the stairs that day, but unfortunately it’s left me with something that haunted me for a long time.”

A pre-inquest review is due to be held on Monday.