Police who knocked on a woman’s door because she had just found her partner dead ended up cooking her dinner and cleaning her flat.
Pc Jemma Lyons and Pc Andrew Stone, who work in Kingston, south-west London, were sent to the scene after the woman called 999 from her partner’s flat, where she had found his body.
"The lady walked into her partner's doctor's and informed them she had just found him deceased," said Pc Lyons. "She didn't know where else to go. She was wearing just a nightgown and was cold and very shocked.
"She'd just gone to see him for the weekend when she found him. We believe he died of natural causes about four days previously."
But when they offered to take her home they found she had been living without water or electricity and was in hundreds of pounds of debt to the gas board. “The property was not habitable,” said a Met spokesman. “The kitchen was filthy and the property was unkept.”
So after taking the bereaved woman to a police station for the night, they called British Gas – who agreed to cancel the debt – and took £15 out of their team tea fund to buy food and clean the flat.
When the woman went home the next day the officers visited her a second time – this time armed with bread, canned spaghetti and some chocolate.
"We made her tins of spaghetti bolognese with bread and biscuits for after," said Pc Lyons.
The officers were with the woman for about three hours, she added - but kept their radios on in case they were needed elsewhere. They even cleaned her flat when they had finished.
"We come across a lot of vulnerable people all the time but nothing to this extreme," the officer added.
"She had no one and due to her reclusive nature had never come to the notice of the authorities.
"I would cook for anyone if I found out they hadn't had a hot meal for more than six months!"
The woman is now being cared for by social services, she said.
