Worcester couple lived next door to dead body for six weeks

A dead body lay undiscovered next door to the home of an elderly couple for six weeks despite them repeatedly raising concerns.

Alison and Ray Morris, who live in Donaldson Court, Worcester, said they had first noticed a foul smell in the middle of June, before flies started appearing around their neighbour’s window.

The body was eventually found around a month after they first reported their concerns to West Mercia Police, with Alison, 70, describing the situation as “upsetting”.

A spokesperson for the police force said they used information reported to them to “determine whether the police are the most appropriate service to respond”.

“Where there is no indication of a policing need,” they added, staff “advise the person reporting the concern of the most appropriate agency or service to contact”.

The couple then also reported their worries to Citizen, the housing association which manages the flats, but it took a further three weeks for the body to be discovered.

Citizen’s head of income and commercial housing, Paula Jenner, said: “We recognise this is a very difficult and upsetting time for the homeowner’s family, friends and neighbours, and our thoughts remain with everyone affected.”

Months later, the flat has still not been professionally cleaned.

Speaking about the impact of the ongoing incident, 94-year-old Ray said: “I’ve got quite a bad chest which I have hospital treatment for and it certainly affected me. It certainly made it much, much worse.”

The couple have lived happily in the apartment block for 14 years, but in mid June they were faced with an overwhelming acidic smell that they say resembled “very bad blocked drains”.

Alison said: “[We] couldn’t walk out the door unless we covered on our faces and noses because the smell was so bad. It was vile.”

They initially thought the odour derived from the bin store, until flies started swarming around their neighbour’s window.