When I first reported on the tragic death of Veronica Crawford, the company that was paid thousands to house and support her sent an eight-page letter denying they did anything wrong. Green Bridge Community Housing, the letter from their lawyer stated, was “deeply saddened” by the 61-year-old’s untimely demise but insisted there was no “evidence that its acts or omissions played any role in her death”. At the time, Green Bridge insisted it would be “highly irresponsible” to speculate on how exactly Veronica had died, as her inquest had yet to begin.
At the long-awaited conclusion of her inquest yesterday, assistant coroner Rebecca Connell identified several “missed opportunities” in Green Bridge’s care in the months leading up to Veronica’s death on New Year’s Day last year. One of the most crucial was the company’s failure to enter her flat at 10.30pm on New Year’s Eve, after several attempts to contact her earlier that day were unsuccessful.
Veronica suffered from severe bipolar disorder, had been sectioned multiple times in her adult life and had told Green Bridge staff she felt unsafe in her flat. Evidence suggests that, at some point on New Year’s Eve, she abandoned the property, posting her own keys through the letter box. “Had the property been entered at that time,” assistant coroner Connell told the court, “appropriate steps could have been taken to locate Veronica, although it’s not known what the outcome would have been”.
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