Mummified body of man lay in flat for nine months
AN AUTISTIC man who was anxious about visiting a job centre to continue claiming his benefits was found ‘mummified’ after lying dead in his flat for nine months.
Roy Curtis, 28, was discovered by a bailiff who was sent to evict him from his flat in August last year.
A decision to stop his benefits because he refused to attend a fit-towork assessment in September 2018 had made Mr Curtis ‘worried’ and ‘angry’, an inquest heard.
In an email to friends, he warned of killing himself before becoming a patient at a mental health treatment centre.
Doctors successfully got his benefits restored but, after returning home to his flat in Ashland, Milton Keynes, Mr Curtis was again informed that would need to attend an assessment.
He asked his GP for a note that would confirm he was anxious about being in open spaces, meaning he would not have to go to his appointment.
Although the letter was provided to him, Mr Curtis was not heard from after November 2018. When his body was found he owed more than £2,767 in rent to his landlord.
High Court bailiff Ian Wright told the inquest he found Mr Curtis dead in a cupboard with a scarf around his neck. ‘He had clearly been deceased for some time,’ he said.
Thames Valley Police officers attended the scene and a post-mortem examination described the body as being in a state of ‘advanced mummification’.
Det Con Lucy Jareth said letters were found indicating the author was ‘distressed about the situation that benefits and allowances had been stopped’.
Dr David Marchevsky, who had treated Mr Curtis, said: ‘He was quite angry that his life had been changed and turned because of the stopping of his benefits.’
Following Mr Curtis’s death, a safeguarding adults review was carried out by multiple agencies including the council. Coroner Tom Osborne said: ‘The review highlights the onus was very much on Roy to self-refer himself if he had problems.’
The Milton Keynes inquest continues.