A housing association has apologised for “missed opportunities” after the body of a man was discovered after laying dead for six years.
Robert Alton was found dead inside his flat on Hemsworth Road in Bolton on 9 March 2023, but the coroner ruled that he was believed to have died in 2017 at aged 70.
The “skeletal” remains of the retired bookkeeper laid undiscovered inside the flat for six years, and were only found after officials from housing association, Bolton at Home, forced entry to the property in order to carry out a gas safety check, an inquest heard.
Officials who found Alton’s body also discovered a half-metre high pile of unopened post, food with expiration dates in 2017, and a pair of reading glasses placed on a TV guide dated 4 May 2017.
Upon the discovery of his body, a police investigation was subsequently carried out, but ended by confirming there were no suspicious circumstances – with coroner, Peter Sigee, ruling at an inquest last week that the “appropriate conclusion is an open conclusion”.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, Bolton at Home, has issued a statement to apologise for the “opportunities we missed” and offer “heartfelt condolences”.
Housing association apologises after man’s body is discovered in Bolton flat after six years / Credit: Google Maps
Noel Sharpe, Group Chief Executive Officer at Bolton at Home says everyone at the housing association has been left “deeply shocked” by the incident, and realises it will “concern and upset people” to learn that Alton’s body remained undiscovered for such a long time.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr Sharpe admitted that it’s “completely unacceptable” that something like this has happened, and assures that it’s taken action to “reduce the risk of it happening again”.
“The reason we didn’t discover Robert’s death for so long is because our previous procedure, while meeting legal requirements, wasn’t strong enough to prevent something like this happening,” Mr Sharpe admitted in his statement.
“We’d made Robert’s home gas safe in June 2017 by turning off the gas supply externally after we were unable to contact him to arrange the annual gas safety check, and following this, we made many attempts to contact Robert over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks.
ADVERTISEMENT
“[But] it’s clear that the action taken by us to understand why we couldn’t contact him didn’t go far enough, and opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong.
“We should have done more to check on Robert’s welfare.”
Bolton at Home has issued a statement on its “missed opportunities” / Credit: Google Maps
Bolton at Home changed its procedure in July 2022, and now claims to immediately begin the process of seeking access to someone’s home via a warrant in instances where it can’t cannot contact them to arrange a gas safety check.
The housing association says it offers its “heartfelt condolences” to Alton’s loved ones, friends and neighbours.
It also apologises for the opportunities it missed in finding out why it couldn’t get in contact with him.
Featured Image – Google Maps
News
Six teenage boys arrested following stabbing of 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre
Emily Sergeant
Six teenage boys have been arrested following the stabbing of a 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre over the weekend.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that officers were called out to reports of a ‘serious assault’ near the Riverside Shopping Centre in central Rochdale on Saturday (29 August), and when they arrived on the scene, they found that a 13-year-old boy had been stabbed.
The young boy currently remains in hospital receiving treatment, while a police investigation into the incident is open and ongoing.
Two teenage boys were first arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article on the same day the incident occurred (29 August), but have since been released on bail.
Officers then made four further arrests yesterday (31 August), again all teenage boys who were arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article, with enquires ongoing.
A Section 60 and 60AA ‘stop and search’ authority was introduced in Rochdale town centre following the recent incidents in area and following reports of youths carrying weapons in the locality, and this has now been extended to 3pm today (Tuesday 1 September).
“This was a serious and sustained attack that could have had far more tragic consequences,” explained Detective Superintendent, Richard Hunt .”Our team of experienced detectives is working around the clock to understand exactly what happened, identify all those involved, and secure the strongest possible evidence.
“We will relentlessly pursue every lead available to us and will leave no stone unturned in bringing all those responsible before the courts.
“Community safety remains our absolute priority, and we are committed to ensuring those who seek to bring violence onto our streets are held fully accountable for their actions.”
Can you help? Anyone who witnessed the incident, was in the town centre at the time, or has any mobile phone, CCTV, or dashcam footage, is urged to come forward and speak to police on 101, quoting log 2750 of 29/08/2026, or using the LiveChat function on the GMP website.
Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Featured Image – GMP
News
High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Emily Sergeant -
15th May 2023 
