An inquest is due to take place after a woman was found dead inside a Blackpool restaurant, with her mother claiming she was there for two days.
Police were called to the Gurkha Restaurant in Waterloo Road, which serves Chinese, Thai and Indian food, at 1pm on Saturday, November 30. The body of Sabrina Lyttle, 47, is understood to have been discovered in one of the restaurant’s toilets.
Sabrina’s mum, Catherine, has since claimed that her daughter had gone into the restaurant to use the facilities two days earlier. She said customers had reported not being able to access one of the cubicles – but Sabrina was not found until November 30.
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Lancs Live reports she posted on Facebook: “My daughter entered the property on Thursday November 28 to use the toilet. Post mortem is still waiting to find the cause of death but her body was not discovered until Saturday afternoon.”
A spokesman for Lancashire Constabulary said: “We were called at shortly after 1pm on Saturday, November 30 to a report of a sudden death at an address on Waterloo Road in Blackpool.
“Officers attended and sadly the body of a woman in her 40s was found dead inside the address. Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this time. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”
An inquest into Sabrina’s death is due to be held at Blackpool Town Hall at 10am on Thursday April 3.
A spokesperson for the venue said: “On Thursday 28th November 2024 at 8.34pm, a non-customer member of the public entered the premises and asked to use the toilets. As the restaurant had already closed for the evening, directions to the pub toilets, which are in a separate area of the building, were given. Staff in the pub provided further directions to the general pub toilets and did not issue access to the disabled toilet.
“Access to the separate and locked disabled toilet is gained via staff as the facility cannot be opened with a RADAR key. The male and female toilets are deep-cleaned every morning and checked throughout the day, with the disabled toilet checked after every authorised use and cleaned as required, due to infrequent use.
“Access to the disabled toilet was not requested until Friday evening around 10pm. The staff with the assistance of other helpful pub customers were unable to unlock the door and as access had not been granted for the past 24 hours, it was reported as a maintenance issue to management. The following day on Saturday before opening, management was unable to gain access using all secure keys and removing the locking mechanism before alerting the police.
“We are aware of public posts that are full of information that is not correct, and we believe the speculations have not contributed positively to anyone affected, including the grieving family, the dedicated Gurkha staff and the community of Blackpool. We are aware of an ongoing inquest and will not be making any further public comments.”
LancsLive has has contacted Blackpool Council for comment.
