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From the high life to death in a smelly flat
Body found on sofa after family shunned help
AS the wife of a chief of police in Sierra Leone, Sarah Leigh once moved in diplomatic circles, meeting foreign ministers and attending embassy parties.
But her final days were spent less glamorously. When she was found dead, she was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and lying on a sofa in a flat in Brecknock Road, Tufnell Park, that smelt of urine.
An inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court last Wednesday heard how Mrs Leigh, 83, died from a blood clot to her lung in August last year.
Camden social services were called to give evidence after it emerged that they received warnings that Ms Leigh was in need of help. Support workers had stopped visiting her a year before her death.
Vivienne Broadhurst, a senior member of social services, said her department had received a call from Mrs Leigh’s daughter in Sierra Leone, who was worried about her mother’s safety.
Mrs Leigh’s sons, Antonio and Martin, were left in control following a visit by social services in 2006.
“They later told social services the worried daughter was a step-relative. Ms Broadhurst said: “They thought they were coping. Mrs Leigh seemed happy and did not want to be referred back to the medical profession.”
Although arrangements were made for district nurses to visit, it was unclear whether this happened, but the inquest heard how Mrs Leigh had not seen a doctor in three years. She was found dead by ambulance staff.
PC Benjamin England said: “The flat was in disarray. It was untidy and there was a strong smell of urine. [Mrs Leigh] was in a lifeless state, covered by a blanket, wearing nothing but a T-shirt.”
Police revealed that Mrs Leigh’s sons, who did not attend the inquest despite being called as witnesses, had taken 15 minutes to decide who should call 999. There was no phone in the house and both of them had medical problems of their own so were reluctant to walk to a phone box.
A post mortem examination found Mrs Leigh died from blood clotting in the veins that travelled to her lung.
Dr Reid ruled Mrs Leigh died from natural causes. He said: “I’m satisfied there was no evidence she has been the victim of abuse or neglect. Sadly, services were offered and her family decided to care for her as best they could. Although there were issues about the way she lived they did not contribute to her death.”
John Ernest Leigh, a cousin of Mrs Leigh’s husband who corresponded with the New Journal by email, said he lost touch with the family 37 years ago.
He said Mrs Leigh’s husband had committed suicide in the late 1970s following political upheaval, first in Sierra Leone, where he was foreign minister, and then in Liberia, where he ran a police training school.
He said: “As police chief, beginning with the last British administration of Sierra Leone as a colony-protectorate, and as foreign minister, William, and Sarah, would have lived a very nice life indeed.
All this changed dramatically when his coup government was overthrown in a 1968 counter-coup by junior officers and then thrown in jail on treason charges.” |
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