Gap in law exposed after council put dead man's belongings in skip

The brother of a 29-year-old man found dead in temporary council accommodation says he has been left bereft after his sibling's belongings were disposed of by council contractors.

- Anna Tims

Simon Byrne had made an appointment with Brighton and Hove officials to collect the possessions of his brother Chris, who had died from a drug overdose. However, when he arrived, he discovered Chris's lodgings had already been cleared.

"I was pointed to a small suitcase in the caretaker's Portakabin," he said. "The rest of his things, including his bracelets and other tangible memories, had been thrown into a skip with no opportunity for me as his only surviving family member to go through them."

The case has exposed a gap in protections for families of deceased council tenants, with regulators and government departments unclear who holds councils to account when a tenant dies intestate.