Gambler found dead in bookies toilets after being locked in cubicle for FIVE DAYS
By Paul MilliganA customer may have lain dead in a bookmakers' toilets for up to five days before it was discovered.
The body of Marc Smithers was found sprawled in the cubicle after Coral workers finally decided to kick down the door.
The 39-year-old was last seen alive when customers first noticed that the toilet door was bolted shut.
The branch of Coral bookmakers in Surrey where the body of 39-year-old Marc Smithers was found
Regulars claimed that staff joked for days about why the door would not open without bothering to investigate.
Yesterday a spokesman for Coral said that they were assisting police with their inquiries. Detectives were not treating Mr Smithers' death as suspicious.
The grim discovery of his body was made at the betting shop's branch in Stanwell, Surrey, at 12.45pm on November 20.
It was not clear exactly how long he had lain undiscovered in the toilets but it is believed that the store is covered by CCTV.
Customer Keith Clark, 55, claimed that he first noticed that the toilet door was locked shut on November 15 and then repeatedly tried to use it over the coming days.
'If the door had been kicked in on Thursday night, he might still be alive,' he said. 'If it turns out he died between Friday and Sunday, there's going to be big problems.'
Mr Clark raised his concerns with members of staff, including managers, and it was suggested that the door should be kicked down.
He said that as the days went past staff joked with regulars about the toilet and suggest it was someone mucking around. 'He is someone's son and its distressing,' said Mr Clark.
Surrey Police are not treating the death in Stanwell, Surrey, as suspicious
'The family is going to be completely devastated that he was in there for four or five days.'
A notice was later been placed on the front door of the bookmakers saying it is temporarily closed.
A spokesman for Coral refused to comment on why the door had not been kicked in sooner until the results of a post mortem examination on Mr Smithers were known.
'It's clearly a tragic event. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the deceased and we are assisting police with their inquiries,' he said. 'Until we know more, I cannot comment further at this stage.'
A spokesman for Surrey Police said: ‘The body of a man found in the toilets of Coral Bookmakers in Stanwell on Tuesday, 20 November, has been formally identified as 39-year-old Marc Smithers from Staines.
'We were called to the commercial premise in Clare Road at 12.45pm following a report that the body of a man had been found in the toilet.
The death is not being treated as suspicious.
'Mr Smithers was last seen alive last Thursday 15 November but had never been reported as a missing person to Surrey Police.'
An inquest into his death has been opened and adjourned and a post mortem is expected to take place in due course.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2237743/Gambler-dead-bookies-toilets-locked-cubicle-FIVE-DAYS.html#ixzz2DFQOACaP
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