A mother and her disabled daughter were found dead at home – after social workers spent months attempting to make contact with them, neighbours said.
Residents said they hadn’t seen the pair ‘for months’ and said they thought the younger woman could have had Down’s Syndrome.
One neighbour reported hearing what she thought at the time was animal cries coming from the vicinity of the property some months ago, but which lasted for hours.
Residents said that windows at the house had been open since February, but that the pair, who they believed were originally from Nigeria, sometimes went away for months at a time.
Police broke into the end-terrace property in Radford, Nottingham, yesterday after ‘concerns were raised’ about the wellbeing of the pair.
Police were called to the property on Hartley Road, Radfor (pictured), at 11.04am on Tuesday morning after concerns were raised for the welfare of the occupants
Detectives said it was thought they had ‘lain undiscovered for some time’ – adding they were ‘keeping an open mind’ as to how the two women, who haven’t been named, died.
The mother is believed to be in her 40s and daughter in her late teens or early 20s.
Deborah Williams, 48, who lives on the same street, told how social services had visited her home on a number of occasions in recent months because they were unable to get hold of the pair.
She said: ‘The social workers would ask if I had seen them recently. But the fact is they would really keep themselves to themselves.
‘I would only really notice them when they left the house to go out shopping. My mum would sometimes see them in the supermarket. The daughter would be pushing a trolley with one hand, with her mum holding the other.
‘I never heard the girl speak. I don’t know how severe her disability was, but I think she was non-verbal. But her mum was always very calm with her when I heard them from my garden.
‘It is very sad. I think social services have probably finally triggered the police to break in. They came on Tuesday morning and tried to bash the door down, then ended up using power tools to gain entry.’
Mrs Williams, a swimming coach, believes she last saw the pair in February. She added: ‘They would go away somewhere for months at a time and then come back, so I just figured that is what had happened this time, and why I hadn’t seen them.
‘Now I wish I’d been a bit more switched on. But no-one – not a friend, or relative – seems to have missed them, apart from social services. I only ever saw one visitor – a woman who looked a bit like the mum, who I took to be maybe a sister.
‘I think perhaps the mum has passed away somehow. [The daughter] was not someone you could leave on her own. She was completely dependent on her mum.
‘The last thing I heard (from the house)… was a sound that I originally thought was cats.
‘I didn’t realise until now that I hadn’t heard a peep from either of them.’
Officers gained entry to the address (pictured) and made the grim discovery inside
The property is owned by Nottingham City Council and Mrs Williams criticised the authority for failing to keep in touch with the pair.
‘I also don’t understand how a landlord, in this case the council, wouldn’t check on their own house’, she said. ‘The garden is all overgrown and the guttering all backed up. It was affecting my property.’
The Labour-run council effectively declared itself bankrupt in November, shortly after confirming a £23million budget deficit for its financial year.
The authority has been beset by financial issues in recent years. stemming from issues including the collapse of council-owned Robin Hood Energy in 2020, and was already under government monitoring.
Another neighbour, Mohamed Hasan, said he would sometimes see what he assumed to be the mother and her ‘physically challenged’ daughter waiting for a taxi in the morning.
He said: ‘That’s the only time I’d see them, they wouldn’t be very social. Every day a taxi would come and they would be waiting here.’
A police van outside the property where two women – believed to be a mother and daughter – were found dead inside on Tuesday morning
And Ade Chukwu, 37, who lives close to the house, added: ‘They were really quiet, you wouldn’t have really known they were there.
‘But it is really tragic. I feel very sorry for them. Something awful has obviously gone off in there. It’s really sad to think they have been probably been laying there for weeks.’
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police did not comment on suggestions the daughter may have starved to death.
In a statement, the force said: ‘Police were called at 11.04am yesterday after concerns were raised for the welfare of the occupants of a property in Hartley Road, Radford.
‘Officers later gained entry to the address and found the bodies of two women inside. It is believed they had lain undiscovered for some time.’
Detective Chief Inspector Ruby Burrow added: ‘Whilst we don’t believe there to be an immediate risk to the public, we are keeping an open mind into what has happened at this address and will be working hard over the next few days to establish how and when these two women lost their lives.
‘In the meantime my thoughts – and those of every other officer involved in this investigation – are with those who have died, their family and friends.’
In an updated statement this afternoon, police said they do not believe the deaths to be suspicious. DCI Burrow added; This is a tragic case and we are currently working to understand exactly how and when these people died.
‘Whilst our investigation remains at an early stage, we do not currently believe what happened to be suspicious.
‘We have enlisted the help of a forensic pathologist and will be in a better position to determine what has happened once they conclude their report.
‘Officers will remain at the address for at least the rest of today.’
A neighbour said that on one occasion, social services called at the address looking for the mother and got no response. When the neighbour saw the mother a few days later and told her that social workers had wanted to speak to her, the resident said the mother replied: ‘I don’t want to speak to them’.
A spokesman for Nottingham City Council said: ‘We were deeply saddened to hear the news and our thoughts are with the friends, family and neighbours of the two residents at this time. We are currently liaising closely with the police to understand the circumstances around this tragic incident.’