‘Two Nigerian women’ found dead in UK apartment

Two women have been found dead inside an apartment in Nottingham, UK.

In a statement, Nottinghamshire police said officers were called to a property in Radford, an inner-city area of Nottingham, on Tuesday morning over concerns about the welfare of the occupants.

Officers forced their way into the house by breaking down the back door and found the bodies of two women inside.

Daily Mail reports that neighbours believe that the women — mother and daughter with the former being in her 40s and the latter in her late teens or early 20s — are originally from Nigeria.

Ruby Burrow, Nottinghamshire police spokesperson, said the bodies were “lain undiscovered for some time”, adding that investigations are on to ascertain how and when the women died.

“Police were called at 11.04 am yesterday after concerns were raised for the welfare of the occupants of a property in Hartley Road, Radford,” the statement reads.

“Officers later gained entry to the address and found the bodies of two women inside. It is believed they had lain undiscovered for some time.

“Whilst we don’t believe there to be an immediate risk to the public, we are keeping an open mind into what has happened at this address and will be working hard over the next few days to establish how and when these two women lost their lives.

“In the meantime, my thoughts — and those of every other officer involved in this investigation — are with those who have died, their family and friends.

“Whilst our investigation remains at an early stage, we do not currently believe what happened to be suspicious.”

The police said it has enlisted the help of a “forensic pathologist” who will be in a better position to determine what happened once officers conclude their report”.

NEIGHBOURS SPEAK

Deborah Williams, 48, who lives on the same street, narrated how social services had visited her home on different occasions because they were unable to find the deceased.

“The social workers would ask if I had seen them recently. But the fact is they would really keep themselves to themselves,” she said.

“I would only really notice them when they left the house to go out shopping. My mum would sometimes see them in the supermarket. The daughter would be pushing a trolley with one hand, with her mum holding the other.

“I never heard the girl speak. I don’t know how severe her disability was, but I think she was non-verbal. But her mum was always very calm with her when I heard them from my garden.

“It is very sad. I think social services have probably finally triggered the police to break in. They came on Tuesday morning and tried to bash the door down, then ended up using power tools to gain entry.”

Williams said she last saw the pair in February.

“They would go away somewhere for months at a time and then come back, so I just figured that is what had happened this time, and why I hadn’t seen them,” she said.

“Now I wish I had been a bit more switched on. But no one, not a friend or relative seems to have missed them apart from social services. I only ever saw one visitor — a woman who looked a bit like the mum who I took to be maybe a sister.

“I think perhaps the mum has passed away somehow. [The daughter] was not someone you could leave on her own. She was completely dependent on her mum.

“The last thing I heard (from the house)… was a sound that I originally thought was cats. I didn’t realise until now that I hadn’t heard a peep from either of them.”

Ade Chukwu, a 37-year-old, who lives close to the house, said they were “really quiet”.

“You wouldn’t have really known they were there. But it is really tragic. I feel very sorry for them. Something awful has obviously gone off in there. It is really sad to think they have probably been laying there for weeks,” Chukwu said.

Mohamed Hasan, another neighbour, said he would sometimes see what he assumed to be the mother and her physically challenged daughter waiting for a taxi in the morning.

“That is the only time I would see them. They wouldn’t be very social. Every day a taxi would come and they would be waiting here,” Hasan said.