Latest news with #EleanorBarker
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Chilling new details emerge after the decomposed bodies of two men were found inside a Surry Hills inner-city terrace
Grim new details have emerged after the decomposed bodies of two elderly men were found inside a rundown terrace. Police made the grisly finds after they received a request to conduct a welfare check at a Cleveland Street home in Sydney 's inner-city Surry Hills on Thursday. The bodies of the men, aged in their 70s and 80s were found in different levels of the home, which was so decrepit that some shocked locals thought it was abandoned. Police say a woman was living with the bodies of two men for almost a month. Eleanor Barker, 63, has since spoken with detectives. Police say she isn't suspected of any wrongdoing involved the deaths. No arrests or charges have been laid. A police source told the Sydney Morning Herald the discovery was being considered as 'a sad story at this stage'. Neighbours told Nine News that Ms Barker had appeared 'upbeat' in recent days. Other neighbours recalled Ms Baker regularly but had not seen the men for 'quite some time'. The only obvious signs of the tragedy on Friday were police tape at the property and dozens of officers examining the home. Described as a hoarder's house, the home was infested with rats and birds. From the street, it appeared rundown, with piles of discarded items strewn across the front of the terrace. 'I mean I've always seen this house, I didn't know if people lived in it, but it doesn't really look like people do,' neighbour Aisha Mingai said. Police and forensic officers combed the property on Friday, where detectives seized electrical cables. Officers also doorknocked neighbours to gather more information. Police are now working to determine why the deaths went unreported for so long. Police also hope that autopsies will shed light of how and when the men died. The bodies were so decomposed that the identities of the men are yet to be confirmed. However, it's understood their bodies had no obvious signs of injury Neighbour Mitchell Morri told Nine News he often saw the men outside the house. 'They're really nice, I'd always pass them on the street. One of the guys used to have a VB longneck out the front,' he said. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Bodies of two men in dilapidated Sydney house could have been undiscovered by roommate for weeks
The decomposing bodies of two men found inside a dilapidated terrace on a busy inner Sydney street could have gone undiscovered by their roommate for several weeks, police have said. On Thursday afternoon, Eleanor Barker, 63, made a welfare concern call to police about one of her tenants. She has owned and lived at the Cleveland Street property in Surry Hills since the 1980s, and rented it out to the two men for at least a decade. Officers arrived at the property about 2pm on Thursday and located the body of a man inside the house, police said. A crime scene was established, and a short time later, a second body was found in a separate room. Both men, aged in their 70s and 80s, were believed to have died in the house at different times within the past month, NSW police said, but how and when wasn't known. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email NSW police hoped autopsy results would progress the investigation. Detectives have spoken to Barker. Guardian Australia is not suggesting that she was involved in the men's deaths. Guardian Australia understands police don't suspect any foul play and are unlikely to lay charges. Police tape was wrapped over the fence on Friday afternoon. Behind it, faded tinsel drooped over the front door. Clutter filled the yard: an upturned bicycle, a walker, a succulent sprawling out of an upturned watering can. The residents of the terrace, who had intellectual disabilities but lived independently, were well known in the neighbourhood. Neighbours often saw Barker, 63, riding her motorised scooter up and down the street and drinking beers at the nearby Crown hotel. The two men spent less time out of the house but were known to sit on the porch and drink longneck Victoria Bitters in the sun. While neighbours on both sides of the property had seen Barker in recent days, they hadn't seen either of the men for at least three weeks. Neighbours said the house had been slowly descending into disrepair in recent years. One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, has lived on the street for about six years and got to know Barker via her 'firing her buggy down the street every morning'. He was out on the street yesterday afternoon when the police arrived. 'I was just out doing my hard rubbish and suddenly there's four ambulances, 10 cop cars, forensics all overnight, it was pretty full on,' he said. He estimated it had been three weeks since he had seen the men, but he said he saw Barker most days. 'The older guy would hang out on the front step and drink beers,' he said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Neighbours, who had been inside the house, said the rooms were filled with clothes, piles of furniture, rats and mould. Across the road, neighbours, whose windows back on to the property, said they had never seen the tenants in the garden. They thought the house was abandoned. Mitchell Morri lives a few doors down and often used to come across the elderly men on the street or on their porch. 'It's quite a sad situation due to the living arrangements there, and the fact it seems that they've passed away in the house,' he said. 'They were both really nice. I've only met [Barker] once, but it seemed like everyone knew her. She was quite friendly.' Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said one of the men was non-verbal, but he often communicated with the other male and Barker. 'I saw him three weeks ago, walking down the street,' he said. 'He was quite slow – he didn't look well. 'The house has been deteriorating badly lately, and we've had a few issues in the past six months – rats were climbing into our attic from their house, which is falling apart.' 'I woke up in the middle of the night last night because you could hear police inside next door. It was actually really horrible; it gave me anxiety. 'It's such an awful way to die. All alone.'
