A HORRIFIED mother-of-two has revealed how a bungling council ignored her complaints about a foul smell – as her vulnerable elderly neighbour lay dead upstairs.
Kim Begbie called Edinburgh Council last Tuesday to report the smell and express her concerns that her neighbour may be “lying dead” upstairs but got no response.
On Thursday, she spotted a mass of flies covering the upstairs window and called the police who discovered the body of the man, who had been dead for some time.
The day after, Kim once again phoned the council to ask for the flat to be fumigated but has still not heard back despite more and more flies swarming around the area and her worries that they may pass into her own property with her two young children.
Incredibly, Kim reported a bad smell coming from the same flat last year and ended up with 300 flies in her own flat.
On that occasion, the council removed four van loads filled with black bags full of rubbish and said that there would be weekly visits from support workers to check in on her elderly neighbour, however Kim claims this never happened.
Posting on Facebook today Kim shared a disturbing photo of the upstairs window covered in flies and wrote: “Edinburgh Council are an absolute joke.
“I called them last year to make them aware that I thought my upstairs neighbour was either hoarding rubbish or worse lying dead after I had over 300 flies in my house in one day.
“Pest control confirmed the flies were the sort that feed on rotten meat or dead bodies. Turns out he was a hoarder and the council were horrified at the state of their property
“They removed four van loads of black rubbish sacks full of rubbish and removed his whole bathroom suite and kitchen. I have never seen anything quite like it.
“The council admitted he was a vulnerable elderly gentlemen and would have constant support with key workers visiting weekly – this never happened.”
Her post continued: “Last Tuesday I called the council again to express my concern that the same thing had happened again or worse still that the man might be lying dead as I hadn’t seen or heard him for some time.
“No one replied or phoned me back. So on Thursday when I saw all of these flies on his window I phoned the police, who were great they arrived within 10 mins and kicked the door down to unfortunately find this poor old man had passed away some time ago.
“The police contacted the council there and then, I phoned the council again Friday to express my concern that the property needs fumigated asao before flies end up in other people’s properties.
“It’s now Monday and still no one has been, this picture was taken this morning. The flies are everywhere so I called the council again and got passed from one person to the next,speaking to five different people and getting no further forward.
“Not only did the council massively fail this poor old man but they are continuing to fail by not getting the property fumigated and cleared out, I can only imagine what else is in there with the flies!
“A council joiner is currently here to replace the door that the police kicked down, he asked me if I knew where the tenant was, no one had bothered to inform him that the door was kicked down because the tenant was lying dead in the property.”
Facebook users were quick to react to Kim’s shocking post.
Marie McKenzie wrote: “What a disgrace. The council have failed terribly here.”
Hayley Michelle Smith commented: “Absolutely disgusting behaviour from officials who are meant to be caring for our elderly. Really sad. RIP.”
Whilst Lynn Kerr added: “This is shocking, what a bloody shame for that poor man.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police in Edinburgh responded to an address in Northfield Avenue at around 3.30 p.m. on Thursday 9th March following reports of concern for the occupant.
“After entering the property the body of a 73-year-old man was found within.
“There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding this death and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”
A City of Edinburgh Council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a Council tenant was sadly found dead in his home on Thursday 9 March.
“We and our partner agencies are currently reviewing the circumstances surrounding what happened.”
The council declined to respond to the claim that it had “ignored” earlier messages about the smell coming from the flat.
