• IT was horrific to hear of the case of medical secretary Sheila Seleoane, who lay dead in her Peckham social housing flat for two years.

But sadly it’s not new to me. In 1999 I was canvassing for a by-election in Swiss Cottage, in Glover House, Harben Road, NW6.

The property looked very empty. The light was all wrong. As I dropped in the letter I was delivering I glanced through the letter box. An empty flat was another one less to canvass.

In the hall, face down, was what looked like a person. After repeated knocks I realised something was seriously wrong.

It was before mobile phones so I had to knock on a lot of doors to get any neighbour to help me call the police. I later found out that the lady had been dead for over a month.

The inquest revealed she was a lady from Martinique with very poor mental health. This was a Camden Council tenant under a Labour government. I add this just to counter any implication that the appalling cases such as these only happen under Conservatives.

I have no idea what steps Camden took to prevent such a thing happening again. How long would she have laid in there had been no by-election on? This has haunted me for a long time.

My thoughts are with Sheila Seleoane and especially the lonely lady who died alone in her own corridor so close to the door in early 1999.

DAVID DOUGLAS
Agent
Hampstead & Kilburn Conservative Association