Paralysed woman may have starved

A British mother and her disabled daughter who were found dead in their home after refusing help from social workers. Photo / Doug Sherring

LONDON - A British mother and her disabled daughter who were found dead in their home after refusing help from social workers were named yesterday by police.

The bodies of Stephania Wolf, 67, and her 29-year-old daughter Sam were discovered at the weekend. It seemed that in their tiny village of Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, nobody had realised the tragedy unfolding behind the door of their cottage.

Yesterday, police were carrying out forensic tests to ascertain how Stephania Wolf and her daughter died, but it appeared the mother may have died first, possibly weeks ago, leaving her daughter, who was paralysed from the neck down, unable to fend for - or even feed - herself.

"We are devastated. To think what that child went through," said a neighbour.

The tragedy of the women's deaths was deepened by the fact that Stephania Wolf had help available all around her, but refused offers from neighbours, local groups and even social services.

Another local person said: "We are a close community. Everyone would have helped but she didn't want it.

"If you saw her she would smile but she would never have a conversation."

Seemingly "hale and hearty", Stephania Wolf, who is said to have been Swiss, spent most of her days gardening with her daughter beside her in a wheelchair. Neighbours said she could be seen helping her daughter into a paddling pool on warm days.

Occasionally people would see her make runs to the village shop in her specially adapted van, but most of the time the pair remained behind the doors of the red-shuttered cottage they had lived in for more than 10 years.

It was not until a man delivering leaflets noticed the post had piled up that concerns were voiced.

Yesterday Hertfordshire police said there were no external injuries or signs of violence to either of the women.

- INDEPENDENT