The family of a severely autistic man, who drowned in a bath at a Sidcup care home, wasn’t told about his death for more than two weeks.

Elric Eiffert, 34, died on April 13 this year at Loring Hall in North Cray Road.

His family weren't told about his death for 17 days, which the council has put down to a lack of emergency contact details for Mr Eiffert’s family.

The Met, Bexley Social Services and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are still investigating the circumstances around the death.

Reports from the CQC had rated Loring Hall as requiring improvement, which the council has described as “unrelated minor concerns”, which were subsequently remedied.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “We were very saddened by the death of Mr Eiffert earlier this year.

“The council worked closely with police and other agencies as part of an investigation into his death.

“Unfortunately Mr Eiffert’s family circumstances were such that neither the council or Loring Hall were provided with their emergency contact details.

“We understand that police sought to notify the birth family at the earliest opportunity but locating family members proved to be very difficult.”

The Met confirmed Mr Eiffert had been found dead and a post-mortem had taken place in April. 

At this time the death remains unexplained.