A dead body is believed to have lain unnoticed for hours on an estate plagued by Class A drugs.
People living on the Little Ilford estate have become so used to walking past unconscious addicts that it was hours before emergency services were alerted.
Police cordoned off an area around Charlbury House in Grantham Road on Tuesday afternoon, April 30, when occupants eventually realised the man had not moved for hours.
One said there were flies crawling on the man’s body.
The man was first seen as early as 6.50am, slumped over outside the block in the bin area - but an ambulance was not called until around seven hours later.
An image of the man was shared at 9.39am in a WhatsApp group where residents alert one another when drug users have passed out around their building.
Four hours later, at 1.36pm, another resident wrote: “That guy was still there when I left in the same position and had loads of flies on him… I hope he’s not dead.”
Paramedics were called less than ten minutes later.
"We sent resources to the scene including an ambulance crew, a paramedic in a fast response car and an incident response officer," a spokesperson said.
"Sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene."
The tragic discovery came just over six weeks after the Newham Recorder published shocking photos of unconscious drug users inside and outside Charlbury House.
Newham Council initiated an action plan to clean up the Little Ilford estate in response to our investigation, in which our reporter even found a used syringe inside Charlbury House.
“The worst fears that we discussed have happened,” said Calvin Terry, who was interviewed in our March special report.
“The guy was in the praying position, stone cold dead… May God rest his soul.”
In our investigation, Mr Terry was quoted saying: “What does it take? Does someone have to get killed before anyone decides to do anything?”
Reacting to Tuesday’s grim discovery, he said: “This is what I feared all along. Hopefully this will wake [the authorities] up.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 1.50pm on Tuesday, April 30, to a report of a man deceased in Grantham Road, Newham.
“The death is being treated as unexpected but not suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”
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