'In this day and age it's unbelievable someone could die like that'

COUNCILLOR SUMS UP COMMUNITY'S SHOCK AS PENSIONER LIES DEAD IN FLAT FOR SIX YEARS

- DAMON WILKINSON

ROBERT Julius Alton lived alone in a small, one-bed flat opposite a primary school on the outskirts of a Greater Manchester town centre.

Neighbours say they saw little of him - and knew even less.

So when, sometime in early 2017, they stopped seeing the pensioner on his occasional walks out, they assumed he'd moved away. In fact Mr Alton, thought to be 70, had died.

Tragically, his body would lay undiscovered for six years at the top of the stairs at his home on Hemsworth Road, Bolton, until March 9 this year when housing officials forced entry to carry out a gas test.

Local councillor Linda Thomas told the M.E.N.: "It's devastating to think of someone dying like that alone. It's heartbreaking to think of someone in that situation. Isolation is such a terrible thing.

"In this day and age it's unbelievable that someone could die like this without anyone noticing. It just goes to show the importance of checking on neighbours, just to make sure they're ok."

It's thought Mr Alton, a retired bookkeeper, may originally have been from Africa. He was described as well-spoken and was said to have had a newspaper delivered on Saturdays and Sundays.