ELDERLY and vulnerable people in sheltered council housing say the discovery of a man’s body in their block after he lay dead for up to a fortnight makes them fear for their safety.

Neighbours say their concerns about 73-year-old Christopher Smith – a vulnerable man once jailed for the manslaughter of his mother, who died of gross neglect – were ignored.

                Salisbury Journal:

IT was in December 2010 that Christopher Smith was sentenced to two years for manslaughter after leaving his elderly mother to die at the home they shared in Netherhampton Road, Harnham.
His 90-year-old mother’s body has been found on the floor covered in vomit and excrement after neighbours raised the alarm.
Neighbours say Mr Smith had tried to feed his mother as she lay on the floor, but was not capable of making the correct decisions about how to care for her and should never have been jailed for her death.

Now they have sent a protest petition to Wiltshire bosses, describing the situation as “truly horrendous”.

Although Mr Smith had not been seen since September 23 and residents raised the alarm on September 29, it was not until October 6 that police finally entered the squalid flat in Norfolk Road, Harnham, and found his body on the floor.

That same week, the Journal reported the story of another council tenant, Terence Blanchard, who was blind and had been found dead in his flat in Essex Square in May, after his body lay undiscovered for up to four months.

After Terence Smith’s death, Wiltshire Council’s ethical governance officer Roger Wiltshire said there were “lessons to be learnt including the recording of tenants’ needs and encouraging staff to see the tenant’s whole picture, age, needs, etc to help pick up cases where a tenant may be vulnerable.”

A council spokesman said Mr Smith had not been in the council’s care, despite being in the authority’s ‘sheltered’ housing.

“We are sorry to hear of this tragic situation,” he said.

“We always work with our partners to look into any concerns raised by family, friends or neighbours about people’s welfare.”

Wiltshire councillor for Harnham Brian Dalton said he was concerned residents’ pleas for help had been ignored.

He said: “The authorities should act on information such as this from worried residents, but in this case, they seem to have been brushed aside.”

The council has agreed to meet with residents at the scheme in November to discuss their concerns.

  • MORE than 30 vulnerable elderly residents signed the petition, saying they were appalled by the “disgusting” situation.

They said they had questioned council staff about Mr Smith’s welfare at regular scheme meetings for more than 18 months, but had been told it was “all in hand”.

“It was obvious to all of us that something was terribly wrong, the smell from his flat was dreadful,” said resident Jan Richardson, 73.

Ken Connor, 79, lives at the scheme with his wife Janet, who has Parkinson’s disease, and said if he collapsed on the floor, his wife would not be able to help him.

“Are they going to treat us the same way?” he asked.

“If something happens to me at home is anyone going to bother to check up and find out why they haven’t seen me for 24 hours?”

Most of the flats in the scheme are occupied by people living alone.

Vera Read, 66, said: “It’s disgusting. It shouldn’t happen.”

Ken Gregory, 85, said when he moved to the sheltered housing 15 years ago wardens used to check on residents daily.

If there was no answer, they would let themselves in to make sure everything was all right.

But after the wardens were scrapped and visiting was contracted out to private firms, he said the service had “gone downhill”.

“My take on sheltered housing is anyone living there has to be looked after,” he said.