A council has launched a review to 'identify any potential missed opportunities to act sooner' after a pensioner lay dead in his flat for six years before his skeletal remains were found. The tragic case of Robert Alton, a 70-year-old retired bookmaker, was revealed after an inquest into his death concluded this week.
The body of Mr Alton was discovered inside his flat on Hemsworth Road in Bolton on March 9 this year, but the inquest found he 'likely' died in May, 2017, said his landlord Bolton at Home in a statement after a coroner recorded an open verdict.
The housing association, Bolton's largest supplier of social housing, owns, manages and maintains more than 18,000 homes across the town.
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The inquest heard Mr Alton's body was found only when staff from the housing association forced entry to his home under a warrant to check on his gas supply.
It's understood the pensioner's rent was being paid through housing benefits, but the council confirmed he had run up council tax arrears since 2017.
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said in the wake of the case that changes could be made. The council said in a statement: "This is a tragic case which has had a profound impact on the whole Bolton community. We are currently reviewing Mr Alton's account to identify any potential missed opportunities to act sooner.
"Pending the outcome of this review, appropriate additional measures will be put in place with a view to preventing similar tragic cases in the future."
In a statement, Bolton at Home Chief Executive Officer Noel Sharpe said the organisation 'made many attempts' to contact him 'over a number of years' to arrange gas safety checks, but the inquest heard there was no response from him.
His body was only found after the housing association changed its policy in July 2022 so legal warrants would always be sought to obtain access to tenants' homes where they cannot be contacted to check gas supplies.
Mrs Sharpe said the 'reason' Mr Alton's death wasn't discovered sooner was 'our previous procedure, while meeting legal requirements, wasn't strong enough to prevent something like this happening'.
She said: "On 9 March 2023 we learned of the death of our tenant Robert Alton after his body was discovered at his home in Hemsworth Road, Bolton. The subsequent police and coroner’s investigation has concluded Robert’s death was not suspicious and that he likely died in May 2017.
"Everyone at Bolton at Home has been deeply shocked by this and we realise it will concern and upset people to learn his body remained undiscovered for such a long time. It’s completely unacceptable to us that something like this has happened, and we’ve taken action to reduce the risk of it happening again.
"The reason we didn’t discover Robert’s death for so long is because our previous procedure, while meeting legal requirements, wasn’t strong enough to prevent something like this happening.
"We’d made Robert’s home gas safe in June 2017 by turning off the gas supply externally after we were unable to contact him to arrange the annual gas safety check.
"Following this, we made many attempts to contact Robert over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks. It’s clear that the action taken by us to understand why we couldn’t contact him didn’t go far enough. Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Robert’s welfare.
"We changed our procedure in July 2022, and we now immediately begin the process of seeking access to someone’s home via a warrant in instances where we cannot contact them to arrange a gas safety check. It was this change and subsequent review of previous instances that ultimately led to us seeking a warrant to access Robert’s home and discovering his body.
"The change to our procedure significantly reduces the risk of something like this from happening again. In addition, we’re also taking steps to enable our tenancy support team to work more closely with our gas safety team where we’re struggling to gain access to a property and where there may be welfare concerns.
"We’re also exploring what else we might be able to do to further reduce the risk of this being repeated. I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Robert's loved ones, friends and neighbours and apologise to them for the opportunities we missed in finding out why we couldn’t contact him."
Coroner Peter Sigee recorded an open verdict. No relatives have been traced, despite GMP issuing an appeal for any to come forward after his death.
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