Call for more vigilance after elderly woman lay dead in flat for 5 years

Published on Friday 3 July 2009 22:20

AN ELDERLY woman lay dead in her tenement flat for five years before her body was found, it has emerged.

Last night, politicians and charities said the case showed the need for a more co-ordinated approach to monitoring the elderly to prevent similar cases.

The body of Isabella Purves, a "friendly and independent" woman, who would have been 90 this year, was discovered in her home in Rodney Street, Edinburgh, earlier this week.

A spokesman for Age Concern Scotland and Help the Aged Scotland said: "It is not right in any way to have someone lying dead for five years.

"If you want to stop this kind of thing happening, something needs to be put in place. It would have to be some kind of co-ordinated approach – involving local authorities, GPs or even utility companies – which could pick up if someone had not been in touch for a long time."

Ms Purves, who owned her own flat in Rodney Street, had once been a familiar figure in the area. When she disappeared, some presumed she had moved away, others thought she had moved into a home.

It is believed that Ms Purves's pension may have been paid directly into her bank and that she paid her utility bills by direct debit. Her body was discovered only after police were called when a neighbour complained that water was dripping into a flat below.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "The police visited on Tuesday after the man living below reported that water was dripping through his ceiling.

"At 11am an ambulance arrived to take a body away. A police officer told me the woman had been dead since at least 2005. When they opened the door there was a smell and it hung around all day. Before then, I didn't smell anything."

Paul Edie, convener of health, social care and housing for Edinburgh city council,

said the council was keen for people to look out for older vulnerable people. He said: "There is a need to develop neighbourliness again, and the council is very concerned about adult protection awareness."

The Independent MSP Margo MacDonald said the case had shocked Edinburgh.

She added: "I am so sad for her. Everybody feels awful about it. We should all think about the people who live around you who might be elderly and who might not have family, and think about ways we can keep in touch with the people around us."

Neighbours said they had been horrified by the revelation that Ms Purves's body had lain undiscovered for such a long time.

David Crystal, an optometrist who has run his business near the flat for 22 years, said Ms Purves had been a client.

He said: "I haven't seen her for 12 years.

For someone who doesn't have any family in this automated society, you can understand how it can happen."

Lothian and Borders Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.