{"id":268097,"date":"2025-07-17T01:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T01:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268097\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T01:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T01:53:41","slug":"edinburgh-wife-demands-answers-as-husband-lay-dead-in-city-chambers-toilets-for-six-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268097\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh wife demands answers as husband ‘lay dead in City Chambers toilets for six days’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A grief-stricken wife has demanded answers over her husband\u2019s death after he was discovered dead<\/a> inside an Edinburgh City Chambers toilet, reportedly six days after entering the cubicle.<\/p>\n

Heartbroken Julie Stephen<\/a> says she\u2019s \u201cbaffled\u201d why nobody realised Sean was still in the toilet cubicle after complaining of \u201cfeeling unwell\u201d.<\/p>\n

Julie, 47, was chatting with Sean on the phone as he went into the council’s Royal Mile HQ on July 1.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/b> Terrifying moment Edinburgh youth gang with knives ‘threaten to stab’ group<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/b> Five major questions as Edinburgh man ‘lay dead in council HQ toilet for days’<\/a><\/p>\n

After later being unable to reach her husband she reported him missing but he wasn\u2019t discovered until almost a week later. Now wife Julie has begged police and council chiefs<\/a> to explain why his decomposing body was not found for six days in the toilet.<\/p>\n

Julie said: \u201cThere\u2019s CCTV footage<\/a> of him on the phone to me walking up the Royal Mile and into the council building. He was healthy but said he was feeling dizzy and sick. He said he was going to get a taxi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came off the phone when he was going to do the toilet. That was the last time I spoke to him. How\u2019s no one been in that toilet for six days, it baffles me.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe has been set up to help towards funeral costs -Credit:Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are security guards, cleaners and someone who sits at reception. The CID are still digging. Could he have been saved? These are questions which will be in my head for rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie posted a picture of Sean, 38, online with the caption, \u201cShame on Edinburgh Council. Left you inside their building for a week. You could\u2019ve been saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple had been married since 2019. Julie revealed she knew something was wrong when Sean wasn\u2019t answering his phone prompting her to call 999 that evening.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI spoke to police on the phone but the first response I got was he\u2019s 38 years old. He couldn\u2019t be a missing person (yet) because of his age. We spent a week looking for him and put flyers in shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went searching everywhere. We were two minutes away from him, we didn\u2019t expect him to be in a locked building. When they found him his body was so decomposed. I couldn\u2019t even see his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to give his toothbrush for DNA. This could happen to anybody. It\u2019s horrible, it\u2019s torture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie said: \u201cI\u2019m emotionally drained. I\u2019m just asking for help. I just want to bring his body home and lay him to rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will get the answers but right now I just need to lay him to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: \u201cAt 9.20pm on Tuesday, 1 July, 2025 we received a report of concern for a 38-year-old man in the Edinburgh area who failed to make an pre-arranged appointment. Enquiries were carried out to trace him and he was traced deceased on Monday, 7 July in the High Street area of Edinburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edinburgh City Council were also asked for comment.<\/p>\n

A Council<\/a> spokesperson said: \u201cWe\u2019re continuing to assist Police Scotland with their inquiries and can\u2019t comment any further at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page has been set up by pals to help raise funds to cover the funeral costs for the \u201cloving gentle giant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sean\u2019s pal Adele Ford, who set up the gofundme page, said: \u201cI\u2019m looking to raise some funds towards Sean\u2019s funeral costs. It\u2019s to lift a bit pressure off his wife Julie and family. Sean went missing on 1st July 2025 and unfortunately was found dead on 7th July 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was very unexpected. He\u2019s only 38 years old he had his full life ahead of him he was the most loving gentle giant you\u2019d ever meet. He was born and bred in the Southside area of Edinburgh and was well known by a lot of people<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like a sister to Sean. We are absolutely devastated that he was found dead, unexplained. Any help would be appreciated to give him the best send off he deserves. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tributes were paid to Sean after his death was confirmed. Emergency crews raced to the City Chambers at around 9.20am on July 1 after police received a report of an unresponsive man inside the building\u2019s customer support hub.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. To donate to the fundraiser towards Sean\u2019s funeral, you can do so here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Join<\/b> Edinburgh Live’s Whatsapp Community her<\/b><\/a>e<\/b> and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A grief-stricken wife has demanded answers over her husband\u2019s death after he was discovered dead inside an Edinburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,102031,1102,62474,37802,102029,4884,102028,712,102032,16,15,102030],"class_list":{"0":"post-268097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-decomposing-body","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-edinburgh-city","12":"tag-edinburgh-council","13":"tag-funeral-costs","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-julie-stephen","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-toilet-cubicle","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wife-julie"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114866081414820756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}