Pensioner

I remember being told as a youngster to always respect your elders but it seems that it’s not always the case these days.

A 64-year old man, living in sheltered accommodation in Lincolnshire, who is said to be suffering from Parkinson’s disease, has been taken to court for burglary.

The pensioner, had forced open the back door of a menswear store in the town and filled his bags with clothing worth an estimated £500, however, when staff turned-up at the store they found his mobility scooter parked at the front.  They then heard footsteps in the store room above but the sprightly old boy made his get away and rode off on his scooter.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten his swag, which he apparently intended to collect later but never made it back to the store.

The old man pleaded guilty to the offence and his medication has been increased.  He was given a conditional discharge of 18 months and had to pay court costs of £60.

Next there was the drunk granny, who tried to drive her car up a stone staircase, normally for pedestrian use, after leaving her aerobics class.

The 74-year-old, admitted drinking before and after the fitness class and then attempting to drive herself home, but her car got wedged at the top of the stairs and emergency services were called.

The incident happened in Cambridgeshire on November 5th, after already reversing into a stone wall in the car park before missing the exit ramp and heading for the pedestrian exit.

She was breathalysed at the scene which proved to be positive leading to an 18 month driving ban, a £350 fine and was ordered to pay costs of £60 plus a £15 victim surcharge.

Tom has been admitted to Southampton General Hospital after a heart attack and suffering from other health problems, and has been told that when he leaves he will be entitled to residential care but his wife may not be entitled to join him.

Iris has severe mobility problems and is almost blind but this may not be serious enough to warrant the residential care that her husband could receive.

The couple from Fawley in Hampshire, met in 1942 just before Tom joined the Navy and they married in 1946 and now after having spent more than 66 years together could be forced to live apart.

From his hospital bed, Tom said “I feel pretty grim about the future. The war didn’t split us up but now this could. I never thought I would see the day when I was separated from my wife. We have both worked our whole life, paying into the system, and I am not happy that we are being treated like this.”

Iris who was weeping said “I don’t want to be without him. I am very upset and angry. Apart from the war and hospital we have never been away from each other. I think things would have been different years ago. Old people used to be treated differently.”

The couple’s daughter Lynne Kotchie, had received a phone call after a meeting with a team at the hospital, who suggested that a residential home placement could be possible for her father.

Mrs Kotchie said “We are still trying to establish what we are entitled to. It was suggested that Dad could go to a home, but funding would not be available for Mum. If they have to split-up, it will be like having a limb cut off for them. They just won’t survive without each other.”

“I don’t know how Mum is expected to get by without Dad. He is her eyes and she can barely move about at home without feeling her way around the furniture. They have paid into the system all their lives and its appalling that the Government isn’t prepared to look after them in their twilight years.

“We don’t know how much time either of them has left and it is a very unfeeling society that would expect them to spend it apart. I think a serious review of the care service and how the Government spends our money is needed.”

It’s not right, how can elderly people be treated like this. I have emailed the Prime Minister to protest and if you feel as strongly as I do, please do the same.

Just click on the link and follow the guidelines below:

www.number-10.gov.uk

At the top of the page click on contact, next to Prime Minister and email your message. Thank you.

Jamie Smith was said to be high on Cider and Vodka when he murdered Stephen Croft, 34-years-old, in the early hours after Guy Fawkes’ night.

Smith already had 11 previous convictions, which included robbery and assault, and at the time of the killing had run away from a care home.  He had been taken into care when his father, Gerald Murphy, 31-years-old, was arrested and jailed for a minimum of 11 years in January 2007.  Murphy, had been convicted of a vicious attack on an Asian market trader in his own home, which left the victim paralysed from the neck down.

Murphy, had broken into the 63-year-old victims flat, and beat the man while his accomplice, a 15-year-old boy from Birkenhead, stole nearly £300 from the victim who lay almost dead on the floor.  Bashir Ahmed, spent weeks fighting for his life in hospital and although now he is out of the coma he is paralysed from the neck down.

The judge told Smith that he posed a “very high risk of harm to the public” and ordered that he spent a minimum of 13 years before being eligible for parole.  Smith had run away from the care home before and would usually return to his family home, but on the 5th November when the care workers went to collect him after a call from his family, he became aggressive and threatened to set off a firework in one of the care workers car and then ran off.  He attended a community bonfire night where he met Mr Croft, who had a drink problem since losing his job after an industrial accident.

By 1am, Mr Croft was extremely drunk and very vulnerable and the prosecutor, David Turner QC said “Smith decided to take advantage of his drunken condition and murdered him while he was helpless, repeatedly kicking him and punching him.  At the end of the attack the defendant believed the deceased was dead, as indeed he was, and it was therefore a sustained attack on a helpless man.  He took from the body some rolling tobacco, cigarette papers and a lighter and put the body onto the fire in the hope that fire damage would conceal his crime.”

After committing the murder, Smith went to the local YMCA and told staff that there was “Someone stuck in the fire” and that he had tried to save them.  However, the opposite were true and the  police arrested Smith who gave the officers a false name and denied any part of the murder.  He pleaded guilty to murder after Mr Croft’s blood was found on his clothing.

Mr Croft’s sister, Sarah said that the 13-year minimum sentence was too lenient and that “hanging was too good” for Smith who’s parents had “dragged him up to be a monster.  The punishment for such a violent, mindless crime, is for him [Smith] to know he will be fed, watered, protected, educated and supposedly rehabilitated – all at the taxpayers expense.  All this for him to out bigger, stronger and just as evil.”

Another vicious criminal raised by an even more vicious father, that’s all they know, they have no conscience or remorse for anyone.  They are given no discipline at home and so won’t accept being told what to do by anyone else.  They have no respect for authority.  Bring back the death penalty, the sooner the better. 

Seffer, 19 years old, was found dead around 7.20am on Monday 5th November 2007 in a playground in Bolton.

In the afternoon of the day that Seffer was murdered, he had met up with some friends in the playground where the group chatted for several hours and had a few drinks.  At around 11pm the group went their separate ways and Seffer was left alone in the park.  After a short time Seffer bumped into Booth and the 15 year old boy while still in the park.  Booth had been drinking and the three of them got into an argument of which there was a history but Booth became violent and punched Seffer in the head.

Seffer apparently ran off but was pursued by the Booth and the boy.  When they caught him, Booth punched him again, knocking him over, then Booth started kicking him while he was on the floor.  While he was on the ground Booth and the boy kicked and stamped on Seffer’s head.  The 15 year old thug then rifled through the pockets of Seffer as he lay on the ground motionless and stole cigarettes and a lighter.

This young man’s body was not discovered until the next morning by a man out walking his dog and the paramedics were called but Seffer was pronounced dead.

Later that evening, the 15 year old returned to his home where he told his family that he had got into a fight with an Asian boy and he showed them the blood on his trainer.  Family members confronted Booth and the boy the next morning after the news of the murder had spread around the community and later that day both thugs went to the police station where they were arrested on suspicion of murder.

A post mortem examination confirmed the cause of death was head injuries sustained during violent attack.  Seffer suffered multiple contusions, fractures to his nose and cheek and had a serious bleed on the brain.  His injuries were said to be so severe that members of his family were unable to identify him.

It doesn’t end there, as other reports are now emerging, that Booth was a convicted mugger and was supposedly being monitored after a string of violent incidents and had managed to get the tag off his ankle prior to the attack.  Enquiries have now revealed that the pair often trawled the park looking for victims.  Both had previous convictions of previous attacks in the same area.  Booth had convictions for threatening behaviour, assault, battery and robbery where victims were punched or threatened with a knife in the same park.

The Judge said “Mercifully he [Seffer] was probably unconscious for most of the blows” before sentencing the pair.  Booth was ordered to serve at least 12 years, 60 days before he can be considered for parole and the 15 year old was told he must serve at least 9 years and 240 days.  So how much time will they actually serve, they will both be out while they are still in their early 20’s, and that’s justice! 

Seffer had two brothers and three sisters.  He was working as a waiter at a restaurant but had studied a diploma in plastering and was setting up his own business.

Tagging doesn’t work, how many more times do we have to read stories of thugs still committing the same crimes with or having removed these pathetic tags! 

 Bring in the Death Sentence, they deserve nothing less

Mrs Molly Darby, 94-years-old, was suffering from dementia and had become to weak to care for herself and so moved into The Beeches Residential Home, in Wath Upon Dearne, near Rotherham last year.

Mrs Darby walked into the care home unaided and in good physical health but within four weeks her condition had deteriorated to such an extent that she had to be carried out on a stretcher with a list of appalling ailments.  Her family said “she looked like a concentration camp victim”, and within three weeks she was dead.

When she was admitted to the hospital, she was found to be suffering from a chest infection, pneumonia, septicaemia, a urinary infection, an ear infection as well as pressure sores.

A damning investigation has now ruled that the great-grandmother died as a result of neglect.

Mrs Darby’s son took photographs of his mother close to death, as evidence of the neglect.  He said that when she arrived at the hospital her hair was so matted it was growing into the back of her neck and that her eyelashes were so congealed she was unable to open her eyes.  Her bed sores were so bad that one of the nurses had to walk away in tears.

Mr Darby had been unable to visit his mother at the care home for ten day due to illness.  He got a call from the care home to say his mother had been taken to hospital as she needed urgent medical attention.  He said that they were shocked when he arrived at the hospital to see her “she had gone downhill rapidly.  She was in a filthy, terrible state and it took quite a while for the nurses to clean her up”.

The Beeches Residential Home has been found to have been negligent by omission in its care of the pensioner after an investigation by Rotherham Council’s Social Service.  Plans are in place to improve care at the home and it will have regular council inspections.

So, THE BEECHES RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME is continuing to CARE for other vulnerable elderly folk, unbelievable.  Why are regular council inspections not already being done in these places?  Every week there is another story of another care home literally killing these frail old people and unless they are shut down and the people involved punished it will continue, do our pensioners not deserve some dignity in their old age!!!!!