AN engineer carrying out a gas safety check at Laura Winham's flat may have been the last person to see her alive, a coroner heard today.

Assistant Surrey Coroner Keren Henderson was holding a pre-inquest hearing into Laura’s death. The body of Laura, 38, was found in a “mummified” state in her council flat in Devonshire Avenue, and is thought to have lain undiscovered there for three-and-a-half years.

Laura lived in a flat owned by the borough and managed on behalf of Woking Council by New Vision Homes (NVH) since 2007. NVH ceased to exist at the end of March 2022, when the borough took back the management of its social housing.

Solicitor for Laura’s family, Kate O’Raghallaigh, said it appeared a red flag had been raised with NVH and the borough about Laura’s welfare but no-one from either body had tried to visit her, even after her gas supply was cut off in January 2019.

The hearing heard that an engineer from NVH contractors Myers might have been the last person to see Laura alive when he carried out a gas safety check on her flat in January 2018. However, the occupant’s signature on the relevant form was different to other signatures that Laura had written.

The gas engineer does not now work for Myers and has not been located so that he can be a witness at the inquest.

The coroner also heard that social services failed to visit the vulnerable, mentally ill young woman after police told them that she had little food in her flat and was finding it difficult to ask for help.

It seemed the only action taken, following concerns expressed by officers who had seen Laura Winham at her home in Sheerwater, was to send her a form providing details of local food banks and the contact details for local support teams.

Laura’s body was found by her brother, Roy, after he had asked police to break into the flat. He had called to tell her their father had died and, after getting no response, saw a foot poking out from under a blanket. She is believed to have died at the end of November 2017.

Solicitor Katie Ayres, representing the county council, admitted that social workers did not visit Laura, but said it was not clear whether its social services department had failed in its operational duty under the Care Act.

Speaking for the family, Miss O’Raghallaigh said there were both operational and systemic failings under the Care Act on the part of the housing association that managed Laura’s home and the two councils.

Dr Henderson said she would consider a request from the family that a jury should decide the verdict when the inquest is held, scheduled for the beginning of April. She is also considering a request from Miss O’Raghallaigh that a forensic archaeologist should study photographs of the body and the post-mortem evidence to try to determine when Laura died.

A post-mortem examination was unable to establish whether malnutrition or starvation caused Laura’s death.

Dr Henderson has asked that the Surrey Police report to social services and the officers’ notes from the visit be provided as evidence, along with the tenancy agreement for Laura’s flat, which the borough council has been unable to find.

Another pre-inquest hearing is to be held on 16 March.