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A grieving widow is demanding answers about her husband’s death after his body was found in a toilet at a council building in Scotland six days after he entered the cubicle.
48-year-old Julie Stephen said she believed her husband Sean’s body was lying in the toilet at Edinburgh City Chambers for almost a week.
She claimed she had been talking to her husband on the phone when he entered the council buildings on the Royal Mile on 1 July.
Stephen contacted the police that evening to report his disappearance after he had reportedly complained about “feeling unwell” and became unreachable, but his body was not found until 7 July.
“There’s CCTV footage of him on the phone to me walking up the Royal Mile and into the council building,” she told the Scottish national newspaper, the Daily Record.
“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 the toilet. That was the last time I spoke to him.”
“How has no one been in that toilet for six days? It baffles me. Could he have been saved? These are questions which will be in my head for the rest of my life,” she told the paper.
Stephen said her 38-year-old husband’s body was significantly decomposed by the time it was found and she was not allowed to see him, while police were only able to identify him with a DNA match.
“At 9:20 pm on Tuesday 1 July, we received a report of concern for a 38-year-old man in the Edinburgh area who failed to make a pre-arranged appointment,” a spokesperson for Police Scotland said.
“Emergency services attended (following the body’s discovery) and a man was pronounced dead at the scene. The death is being treated as unexplained but not believed to be suspicious and a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal.”
Procurator fiscal is the Scottish title for the public prosecutor.
City of Edinburgh council said it was assisting police with inquiries.
“We’re continuing to assist Police Scotland with their inquiries and can’t comment any further at this stage. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends during this difficult time,” a spokesperson said.
Friends of the couple have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money towards the cost of his funeral, saying they were “devastated” by his death.
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