THE dead body of a council tenant was found in a flat he had repeatedly warned had been taken over by drug dealers involved in serious violence and believed to be behind a “triple murder”.

The Town Hall placed its “cuckooing” strategies under review following the unexplained death of 47-year-old Matthew – not his real name – in a housing estate in Kentish Town.

The demise of the “talented artist”, who started taking drugs aged 11, is revealed in an independent report published by Camden’s Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board before Christmas.

The report tells how Matthew alerted authorities about a group of “young boys” who began exploiting his tenancy while supplying him with crack cocaine two years before his mysterious death.

Officials made a series of questionable decisions and also disputed whether he was in fact a “victim”, the report said.

He was eventually moved into a hostel following concerns for his safety but then moved back into the same flat with “no safety net in place for him”.

His body was found so decomposed that a coroner was unable to rule what killed him.

In a statement, Christabel Shawcross, chair on behalf of Camden Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board (SAPB), said the independent review had identified “lessons to be learnt” and listed a series

of recommendations aimed at “preventing such a situation from happening again”.

Details revealed in the report show how Matthew had initially allowed drug dealers to base themselves in his home in exchange for what he thought was free crack cocaine, but he later became pursued by them for payment.

After a Kentish Town residents association complained of loud music and smells of cannabis, the flat was raided.

Police arrested him for possession of intent to supply and for assisting an offender by concealing a murder weapon in the flat on behalf of the gang.

The report said Matthew told his social worker how detectives had offered him an impossible deal – an “option of testifying against them or going to prison for possession of drugs”.

The review raised questions about the “multi-agency response” to Matthew’s concerns about cuckooing.

For example, it appeared that council tenancy services believed he may have been exaggerating the severity of his situation.

The review said officials needed to be aware that people being exploited “may behave in ways which are not seen as being compatible with being a victim”. It added: “However, those engaged in the exploitative behaviour exercise power over them in a relation- ship which is not equal. Victims of cuckooing can

often be perceived as offenders or perpetrators of anti-social behaviour.”

The review says that Matthew was known as an “exceptionally talented at art” but that without the cooperation of his family and friends it had been impossible “to ascertain what really mattered in life to him”.

Records showed how he started using drugs aged 11 and was at the time of his death having supervised prescriptions for methadone. He “took on positions of responsibility” while in prison where he was diagnosed with ADHD.

“Little is known about what offences he was sentenced for, other than two and a half years for ABH in 2011,” the review said.

Matthew had left prison feeling as if “he would never be able to work because he’d become institutionalised”.

In 2018, the council approached Matthew about mounting rent arrears to which he responded that he “spent all his income on crack (£30-£40 daily) and had not been eating as he had no money for food”. He was given food bank vouchers.

It was in March that year that he first told authorities that drug dealers had seized control of his flat.

The report said “he described feeling trapped” by the gang who were “dealing out of his back window” and that he saw “no way out” and felt suicidal.

He told his social worker that he had retained control over his home after the “young boys” who had been using his flat to sell drugs were remanded in custody for a “triple murder”.

He “refused” to contact the police or to give up his information to the anonymous line Crimestoppers.

In 2019, Matthew disclosed he had “hurt” a man “visiting his flat” with an iron bar, adding that he had “totally flipped”. Fearing for his safety a closure order at the property was sought by the council and he was moved into a hostel in Hackney.

But the closure order “expired” and before a new one could be sought at court, he was moved back into the flat after insisting to his social worker that he would not let anyone in ever again.

But a summary of evidence from his sister said that “some men who had been involved in murders locally, turned up at his flat and asked him to hide the weapons they had used”, adding: “She said that the men were ‘horrid people’ and implied that her brother had little choice but to comply with their demands.”

It added: “She strongly ‘Some men who had been involved in murders turned up at his flat’ felt that Matthew shouldn’t have been allowed to go back to his flat after the closure order expired and that having returned to the flat, no safety net was put in place for him.”

On his return from the hostel, neighbouring residents made similar complaints about cannabis and noise.

With weeks before the new closure order was due to be approved by a magistrate, in August 2020, the review said the council reported Matthew had not attended meetings with officials.

On August 27, his “body was found lying on his bed” and “it appeared that he had been deceased for some time”.

The Covid pandemic had at the time sent the world into freefall that year, with a wide range of council services and the court system severely affected by a backlog caused by weeks of lockdown.

The review criticised the council for failing to contact partnering agencies about the cuckooing concerns for six months and that “the approach continued to place the onus on Matthew to extricate himself from the situation”.

It questioned why Camden’s Tenancy Services and Community Safety “began to suspect that Matthew was presenting as being more vulnerable than he actually was”.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “Matthew” passed away in very sad circumstances and our deepest sympathies are with his family and friends.

“An independent safeguarding review was carried out following “Matthew’s” death and this has identified learnings and improvements that, together with each of the agencies involved, we are implementing to ensure that more is done to support victims of cuckooing.

“This has seen Camden’s Multi-Agency Cuckooing Guidance rewritten to incorporate each one of the recommendations of the review and the Safe- guarding Adults Partnership Board (SAPB) is overseeing the delivery of better awareness and understanding of cuckooing among the agencies working with residents in our borough – with improved coordina- tion between agencies and enhanced safeguarding procedures, reporting and interventions in place.

“We recognise that cuckooing remains a significant risk to adult residents who may be at risk of abuse and Camden’s SAPB is actively monitoring the progress of the improvements that we are making following ‘Matthew’s’ death with the sole focus of preventing such a situation from happening again.”