Decaying corpse found at Harlow's 'human warehouse'

A cleaner at a troubled former office block used to house the homeless has revealed she and other staff discovered a "weeks-old corpse" in a room.

Tania resigned from her job after being asked to clean the room where the man's body was discovered in June 2019.

An investigation by BBC East and Panorama found evidence security staff had "lost control" at Templefields House in Harlow, Essex.

Property owner Caridon said "management followed appropriate procedures".

The BBC found hundreds of families were being rehoused by London boroughs in office blocks and industrial estates in Harlow, often living next to drug addicts and ex-prisoners.

Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, described the practice as "social cleansing".

Essex Police confirmed the death, which is not being treated as suspicious. The identity of the dead man was not disclosed.

Tania, who did not want her surname used, became an employee of the landlord Caridon, with her partner Matt who became head of security at Templefields, after they had lived at the block as tenants.

"It was the smell hit you before you even opened the door. And there were flies everywhere. It was just awful," she said.

"He'd been there for five or six weeks. It was decomposed."

The couple said a number of people had taken their own lives during the time they lived and worked there.

Current staff also told an undercover BBC reporter about other tenants who had died.

The reporter was told "we've cleaned a dead man's room" and "we found him hanging", "had to wait for the body bag. Had to stand in the hallway to make sure no-one come in or while he was cleared".

Management at the building were concerned with getting the room cleaned and letting it out to a new tenant, Tania said.

"I was just in shock, complete shock, but it was more of a concern to get another room that was needed to be cleaned that day," she told the BBC.

A spokesman for Caridon told the BBC the company was "aware of the tragic events".

"Following discovery by a member of staff, our management followed appropriate procedures and contacted the relevant authorities.

"As a supplier of accommodation to tenants referred by the local authorities, we are not mandated to provide support for vulnerable tenants with health issues."

He added: "We do however perform welfare checks on individual tenants when instructed to do so by the relevant authorities."