Sean Stephen, 38 was found dead in a toilet cubicle on July 7 last year, with his body in an ‘advanced state of decomposition’.
A report into the death of a man who was disovered in a toilet cubicle at Edinburgh City Chambers will be heard by councillors in private, it has been revealed.
Sean Stephen was found dead in the customer service hub on site on July 7 last year, with his body in an ‘advanced state of decomposition’. The 38-year-old had last been in touch with his wife on July 1, with his wife telling police that they had spoken on the phone when he was near the chambers.
In August, council leader and Labour councillor Jane Meagher announced that an independent investigation of the death would be carried out. On Thursday, the city’s governance, risk and best value committee will consider the independent investigation report.
But the general public will not be able to attend the discussion around the report, or read its contents on the meeting agenda online. Police Scotland said in early July last year that they had launched an investigation after Mr Stephen’s passing, but that his death was not believed to be suspicious.
At the time, a source told the Local Democracy Reporting Service his body had been discovered by cleaning staff, who had believed the toilet door was locked for days due to the facility being out of order. It is understood that security staff were to check the toilets were empty at the end of every day, as part of their rounds, but failed to do so.
Sean’s grieving wife previously demanded answers over her husband’s death. Heartbroken Julie Stephen said she was “baffled” as to why nobody realised Sean was still in the toilet cubicle at Edinburgh’s City Chambers after complaining of “feeling unwell”. Julie, 47, was chatting with Sean on the phone as he went into the local authority’s Royal Mile buildings in the capital.
After later being unable to reach her husband she reported him missing but he wasn’t discovered until almost a week later. Julie has since begged police and council chiefs to explain why his decomposing body was not found for six days in the toilet.
Julie said: “There’s CCTV footage of him on the phone to me walking up the Royal Mile and into the council building. He was healthy but said he was feeling dizzy and sick. He said he was going to get a taxi.
“I came off the phone when he was going to do the toilet. That was the last time I spoke to him. How’s no one been in that toilet for six days, it baffles me.
“There are security guards, cleaners and someone who sits at reception. Could he have been saved? These are questions which will be in my head for rest of my life.”
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