Body of indebted woman went undiscovered for a year

A woman may have been dead for more than a year before her body was found when a building society contacted her brother to say that she was behind on a debt, an inquest has heard.

Mary Fox, aged 56, was found dead in bed at her home at Cooldriona Court in Swords, Co Dublin, on Jul 14 last year.

Brendan Dunphy, her brother, told Dublin Coroner’s Court that he had not seen his sister, who was an alcoholic and suffered from depression, for more than a year. He believed she was in the care of mental health services at the Curam Clinic in Swords.

However, in a letter to the court, the clinic’s consultant psychiatrist, Dr Declan Murray, said Ms Fox had been discharged into the care of her GP in Jul 2010 having successfully completed treatment.

Dr Barry Moodley, her GP, wrote to the court to say Ms Fox had last attended his clinic on Apr 21, 2011, to pick up a prescription. His medical card contract ended the next month, he said, and she was put into the care of another doctor.

Mr Dunphy said his sister had fallen out with her family and friends. He became aware something was wrong when he was contacted by the building society because she was in arrears on a debt on which he had been guarantor.

When he went to her apartment, there was no answer and the chain was on the door. Somebody had painted the door and it was sealed shut, he said.

Mr Dunphy called gardaí who found Ms Fox’s body. He said the apartment was in a “horrendous” state and that on clearing out her postbox, he took three bags of mail away, including social welfare cheques dating back a year.

Mr Dunphy said that when his sister was being treated by the Curam Clinic, he was not given any progress reports or asked about her background. “We were given the impression they were looking after her,” he said.

Speaking from the body of the court, his wife Angela Dunphy said that they have written to the Irish Medical Organisation regarding her sister-in-law’s care. “What I do not understand is where the back-up was from the health services. Where were the social workers? Why did they leave her into an apartment block on her own with no family and no friends,” she said.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said the decomposed state of the body meant the pathologist was unable to establish a cause of death at autopsy.

He adjourned the inquest until Nov 12.