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| NEWS | BY RICHARD OSLEY |
 Ursula Bahler sleeping in her doorway days after she had been evicted  Flashback: How the New Journal reported the story in November 2000  Her husband Alex |
Ursula Bahler, 63 – affectionately known as Ushi – was found dead in a run-down flat in Sumatra Road, West Hampstead, on Friday, yards from the staircase where she was regularly found sleeping rough surrounded by her scattered possessions. Police arrived at the scene at 2.30 pm and forensic examiners confirmed her death around four hours later. Earlier in the day, Mrs Bahler had been seen by friends and, although complaining of mild stomach pains, appeared to neighbours in general good health. Detectives piecing together her last movements confirmed yesterday (Wednesday) that they arrested a 60-year-old man on suspicion of her murder and questioned him on Friday evening. But he was released hours later without charge. The New Journal has learnt the man has since been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for unrelated reasons. A post-mortem at St Pancras Mortuary on Saturday recorded a preliminary verdict of death by natural causes. Insiders said Mrs Bahler may have been hit by pneumonia, although an inquest has yet to open into her death. Officially, police are treating the case as ‘non-suspicious’ but they are still not in possession of full toxicology reports. One Sumatra Road onlooker said Ms Bahler’s mouth was covered with a strange blue powder when she was found but the description has not been confirmed by police. Several neighbours suspect she had been talking to a religious cult in recent months. Friends Lionel Haig and Pamela McInally, who both live in Sumatra Road, brought food to her every day and Mrs Bahler made Mr Haig a special birthday card made out of ink and a fabric canvass last year. “It is really very sad,” said Mr Haig. “She had told me that she had pains in her stomach but she looked quite well. She was an amazing woman.” Candles have been lit at the scene by devastated friends and mourners have left a row of flowers and written tributes. When New Journal reporters visited the makeshift shrine, a mother told her visibly upset toddler: “Don’t cry, Ushi is in heaven now.” Others left the scene in floods of tears. Ms Bahler was a much-loved figure in the area, winning many friends for her devastating three-year battle to win back the possession of her former home also in Sumatra Road. The house had belonged to her husband Alex Oladeinde, who died in 1983. It was sold without her knowledge in 2000. Mrs Bahler was evicted despite a note from a doctor that she was unable to understand the proceedings against her and was later arrested for breach of the peace after challenging bailiffs. Confusion centred around Mr Oladeine‘s disputed intentions for the property. A month-long New Journal investigation revealed his will bequeathed 25 per cent of the sale of the house to Mrs Bahler, with the rest shared out amongst his five children, including two trustees. The High Court, however, did not recognise Mrs Bahler’s claim because it did not accept a letter handwritten by Mr Oladeine as a binding will. In stubborn defiance, she refused offers from Camden Council to be re-housed in a flat in Kentish Town and six months ago rejected an offer to rent the basement flat when developers asked Camden for permission to split the property into three bedsits. Instead, she slept on the steps of the house, which she had lived in for 37 years, through freezing temperatures, rain and snow. The house, which is in disrepair and is thought to have extensive flood damage, has since been owned by at least three property firms, changing hands twice in two days in December 2000. Ms Bahler’s relatives who are spread across north London and Canada have been informed but it is friends of the Swiss-born woman who have begun a collection to cover funeral costs. |
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