Empty for three years: the Fitzjohn’s Avenue flat where two died

Published: 08 July, 2010
by TOM FOOT

A COUNCIL flat in Hampstead which was the scene of the mystery deaths of two young men has been empty for three years.

Terence Jolly, 18, was found dead in Monro House, Fitzjohn’s Avenue, in January 2007. Just six months later, aspiring racing driver Lawrence Lyon, 21, died in the same bunk bed. 

Both died from massive overdoses after accepting drugs from a carer with access to the room. No criminal charges were brought and detectives closed the case.

Now, the ground-floor flat, which is adapted for wheelchair access at the imposing Victorian building, is being transformed into an office so the sheltered housing block’s manager can spot “bogus callers” more easily.

Residents said the council had struggled to fill the flat because “no one wanted to live there”. Many residents had received counselling after the tragedy came to light during a coroner’s inquest in 2007.

Anne Brown, 67, who visits her mother in the block, said: “It’s criminal to leave a flat empty for so long. It is large and is adapted for a wheelchair. There was a terrible death there, and that’s been a problem.”

There is a shortage of accessible wheelchair-adapted flats available to disabled tenants on the council’s long waiting list. A council spokeswoman could not explain why the flat had been empty for three years. “The flat will be kept in its current state, and only minimal alterations will be made,” she added. “This means it can be converted back into living space very quickly if necessary. To provide an accessible office there was no other option than to convert the flat, as there is no space at the front of the building to build a new office.”