A safeguarding partnership in Waltham Forest has vowed to improve after a shocking incident where a mother was found pushing her dead daughter in a wheelchair round a shopping centre.
Joan Kathleen Turnell, then 77, had kept her daughter Tracey’s dead body in their shared flat in Leyton, east London, for over a year before she was discovered in November 2023.
Neighbours had been complaining to the housing association for months about “horrendous smells” and a fly infestation, East London Coroner's Court was told at an inquest earlier this year.
Housing association staff were dispatched to the property, but when Joan refused them entry, they chose to follow her to the High Street
In a bid to convince the staff that her daughter was still alive, Joan wrapped Tracey’s remains in a red coat and wheeled her out in a wheelchair.
But as she passed, the staff noticed a “vile smell” and called police while following her.
Police stopped Joan outside the 17 & Central shopping centre on Selborne Road where they found a “heavily decomposed body” of Tracey, aged in her 50s, , senior coroner Graeme Irvine said at the inquest.
Now Waltham Forest Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) was told to reassess how it handles some cases in light of the tragic incident following a review.
Though it is a crime to not report a death, the mother - who was found to be suffering from a brain tumour - was not charged by police. In a statement read out at the inquest, she said she "couldn't bear to part “with her daughter.
The SAB body is made up of officers from Waltham Forest Council, NHS North East London and the Metropolitan Police.
The pair had first become known to the council in 2013, when they were evicted from their home. In January 2014, a council officer identified safeguarding concerns with both Jodie and Janet but they were not investigated "rigorously" enough, an independent reviewer from Strategic Partnerships Board (SPB) said.
In a review published last October, the SAB was ordered to "urgently commission" a series of multi-agency audits and update and clarify its referral and escalation processes.
The SPB said it was important to avoid just one partner understanding a case and to ensure "direct line of sight on the front door".
The SAB "accepts the reviewer's findings and agrees the changes needed to further improve practice," it said in a response last week.
It carried out several reviews through November and December, and is expected to "provide assurances" over its new approaches in June.
The SPB added officers handled the situation "very well". They wrote: "They had to think and act outside of normal parameters. They had no procedures, training or tools to equip them to respond. They acted on their human instinct.
"While this case is bizarre and extremely rare and hopefully will not happen again, it shows the need to provide support to individuals in these situations."
The SAB was told to also consider responses to "bizarre, shocking and urgent circumstances" and "what kind of leadership is required at moments such as these".
