I can't say much about this subject yet, except to say he died and we are waiting for a County Court case of fraud.

Watch this space!

He had his 78th birthday on the 2nd January and died a couple of weeks later. That was last year and we still have his ashes behind me in a casket in a carrier bag waiting for the case to come up and closure to the whole sorry business.

He was his own worst enemy, really, because he was a shy loner in his youth and joined the Merchant Navy travelling the world instead of settling down and having his own family. Later, he was too independent to want to share his life with anyone.

After his parents died and he retired from the Merch he took to the drink. He had no friends to speak of because he had such a nasty temper which he inherited from his father, it would put people off him.

Then his health began to suffer with a muscle-wasting condition that got to point where his leg muscles wouldn?t take his weight. He was then helpless and totally reliant on others. His frustration would boil over with rage and this would put the carers off doing anything for him.

His medical practice didn't want to know him. The housing association who's property he was living in didn't want to know him. His social worker from Social Services let him down by offering him a place in a home and then taking it away again.

His eyes were so bad he could no longer see well from his own glasses. He was refused a laundry service unless he paid £50 a time. The housing association refused to install the right plumbing so he could buy a washing machine to get the laundry done in his flat.

On top of all that someone stole his credit card and relieved his bank account of £23,000.        


Barry

(Part 2 - Continued)

His death certificate gave the cause of death as pneumonia. He had a bad chest. This was mostly caused by the care workers not knowing how to work the central-heating system in his flat. They would either turn it full on, which left him roasting all night, or turn it off completely, which left him freezing all night.

The care assistance he got three times a day, one first thing, to get him out of bed, put him in his wheelchair, get his breakfast, and strip his bed of urine-soaked bedding. The second visit was his meal and ablutions. The third was to transfer him from his chair to the re-made bed. Although we were told not to my wife did his laundry for him because there was no one else.

He would often have to go 12 hours through the night between visits from carers. Sometimes he was desperate in the night which would result in him falling from the bed and shouting for help. I would pull our cord and get an ambulance for him.

Once he dislocated his hip from one of these falls and ended up in hospital for six weeks. When they brought him home the ambulancemen left him in the middle of his living room in his wheelchair and no one came to attend to him till the next day. He was there all night.

Barry  

You say that he was in the merchant navy, so assummed, he was ok then. perhaps something really changed his mind about people To refuse any help, is not the time to be 'angry' --  Something actually must have made him that way I can understand The carer's they have to be so careful, but he certainly needed Help, from somebody.

a disgusting state of affairs.Maybe the man was awkward, but thats more reason why he needed help.

One other thing, an unusual coincidence.

In the 70s I lived in Branksome in Poole - Wroxham Road. This was my very first property with my name on.

It turned out that this chap downstairs lived, in the 40s and 50s, in the road that cut across mine - Sheringham Road.

I lived to the west of the junction and he lived to the south in it.

What a coincidence!

Barry  

Any further deveopements with the man downstairs Beejay.

Barry where are you? This is really interesting, what is happening, I guess it won't do the old fella any good now though.

Hi all.

Right! I?ve got some news, at last.

While we were away on holiday, there was a hearing held at Portsmouth Crown Court in which she was found guilty. The case has been adjourned until the 2nd of July for sentencing. What exactly she?s been found guilty of, I haven?t found out yet.

Her brief has been trying to get her a lesser sentence by only admitting to stealing ?10,000 instead of the sum of ?26,000 that went from his bank account.

It?s also come to light that she had been taken to court twice before for the same offences to other disabled pensioners and each time got suspended sentences.

It wouldn?t surprise me if the same thing doesn?t happen in this case.

Also, no one bothered to inform us officially of these developments, but when we recently saw in the local TV news programme that the Hampshire Constabulary have overspent by ?3M. we can understand why they didn't bother.

It seems that justice could come at too high a price in Britain today?

PS. Some good news to cheer me up is fact that Portsmouth FC have escaped bankruptcy and still have a future. Hooray!

Barry & Sheila