Man lay dead in his flat for TWO YEARS until cleaners turned up to clear his hom

A loner lay dead in his city centre flat for
two years after no one realised he had
passed away, an inquest heard.
The skeletal remains of Simon Allen
were only discovered when deep
cleaners went to his home.
His body – wearing just a pair of socks –
was found lying behind an armchair in
the living room of the flat in Brighton,
East Sussex, in November.
Eleven days earlier his landlord and
bailiffs had gone to the first-floor
property to check why his rent had not
been paid for several months.
Neighbours said there had been a ‘musty
smell’ in the hallway outside the flat
before his body was found, but nothing
more unusual than that.
Police said they believed that Mr Allen
had died in December 2010 when he
would have been aged around 50.
They were unable to trace any family or
friends and found few personal items in
the flat, which Mr Allen had rented since
1999.
Paul Hanscomb, 45, who lives in a
neighbouring ground floor flat, said: ‘I
hadn’t seen him for about two years.
‘He was a heavy drinker and I used to
hear him banging around in the hallway
and up the stairs when he came home at
night.
‘But we all keep ourselves to ourselves
here and we thought he’d moved out.’
Chris Dunbar, who also lives in a first
floor flat, added: ‘It was a shock.
‘I think it’s quite sad really and maybe
should have been investigated a bit
sooner.’
He said there was a slight musty smell in
the hallway before Mr Allen’s body was
discovered, but ‘nothing strong’.
The Brighton inquest heard that Mr Allen
slept on two chairs pushed together and
only used his bedroom for storage.
Affinity Sutton, the housing association
who owned his flat, said he was ‘a model
tenant’.
Tracy Evans, head of housing in the
south for Affinity Sutton, said: ‘We were
deeply saddened to hear of the death of
Mr Allen.
‘There was no indication that there were
any problems nor that he had any
additional support needs and he was a
model tenant.
‘Sadly, despite repeatedly trying to
contact Mr Allen, the alarm was not
raised until significant rent arrears had
built up in 2012.’
Police said there were no suspicious
circumstances surrounding the death and
it was impossible to say how he died.
Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said
she was ‘particularly saddened’ that a
relatively young man had not been
missed.
She added: ‘There is no suggestion that
anybody should or could have done
anything different in relation to their
dealings with Mr Allen.
‘It seems that he chose his somewhat
reclusive lifestyle.’
Mr Allen was given a welfare funeral,
provided for people who have no known
family or friends to arrange the burial or
cremation.
The number of welfare funerals in
Brighton has more than doubled in the
last five years, from 36 in 2006/7 to 79 in
2011/12.