Tag: 2011

00 out of sight of the road

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The tarpaulin was covered in logs and stones.
Pulled back
it revealed a pony
six months old
weak, barely alive, terrified
out of sight of the road
his front legs strapped together.
Too weak to move it himself
his head was twisted around over his back
where it had flopped as he was dragged across the field
covered over,
body tied and twisted,
left in the dark
to die.
The post-mortem found the pony
was dehydrated
had diarrhoea
and a worm infestation.
It could have been treated
for five pounds.

[The Guardian, 27/01/2011, Pony dragged to corner of an English field and hidden under a tarpaulin to die]

03 complicated jargon, red

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She was diagnosed
with ovarian cancer:
major surgery
chemo
sickness
hair loss
complicated jargon, red
tape.
As well as working
her husband cared for her.
‘Having chemotherapy makes you see
everything through a mist.’
One day
she came downstairs
to discover her husband
lying on the living room floor
dead.
Afterward
the Department told her
she could no longer claim employment support
because her bereavement benefit
was five pounds more a week
and she was not allowed
to claim for both.

[Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 26/01/2011, I didn’t ask to be ill, I just asked for support]

04 I don’t want people mourning me before I die

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She works 20 hours a week as an employment advisor
take-home pay less than 10,000 a year.
But with 400 a month in welfare payments
she is able to live alone
work
and pay for a specially modified car.
She pays for carers to come in twice a day to prepare meals,
twice-weekly visits to the physiotherapist.
The money from the Department
allows her the freedom to exist
independently.
The inexorable spread of her disease
(progressive multiple sclerosis
she was diagnosed as a teenager)
meant she would end up a ‘cabbage with a heartbeat.’
She decided long ago to take her own life at some stage:
‘I don’t want people mourning me before I die.’
In a consultation paper last December
the Department said it was paying ‘a lot more
than expected’
to disabled people.
It aims to reduce costs by a fifth.
A consultation ends this week.

[The Guardian, 14/02/2011, ‘Life not worth living’ for disabled people facing benefit cuts]

22 with nowhere to go

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When she returned to their flat
she found a note:
‘Don’t come into the bathroom.’
Her husband was 44,
a former helicopter pilot.
They met while travelling in South Africa
eventually settled in London.
She got a job but was made redundant.
He
constantly struggled to find work,
was unable to complete training
as an electrician;
the Jobcentre would not continue to pay his benefit
because the training
stopped him from being available
for job interviews.
He tried to commit suicide for the first time
by crushing 150 tranquiliser pills
which he swallowed with whisky.
He was found
still alive
by his wife.
The suicide bid
was so she and their son
could benefit from a life insurance policy.
Later
they received a letter from the Council
saying
their housing benefit would decrease
by 30 pounds a week
forcing them to move
with nowhere to go.
He was found
dead
in the bath
by his wife,
with three stab wounds
to his chest and abdomen.
A diagram showing the position of the heart
had been mounted on one wall
and three kitchen knives
were on a folding table
next to the bath.
Suicide notes
addressed to his family
and the police
had been placed on the bed
along with more anatomical diagrams.
But his wife had already cancelled the policy.

[Sutton & Croydon Guardian, 25/08/2011, Southfields dad committed suicide after housing benefit cut; Court News UK (via the Internet Archive), undated (archive dated 14/03/2016), Father killed himself after benefits cut]

29 on the appointed day

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The first time he discovered he was in trouble was when a letter arrived
from the Department.
It was headed Fraud Investigation Section.
An investigator was going to call at his home
to interview him.
Diabetic neuropathy;
he had been unable to walk without discomfort
for over a decade.
He had been claiming benefit.
His wife had taken a part-time job
despite her own disabilities
to supplement their meagre income.
He had phoned the Department,
was told his wife’s new job
had been noted on his records.
It was more than two years later
that the fateful letter came.
The investigator arrived
on the appointed day.
The interview was carried out under caution.
He was stunned to discover
his wife’s job
was the reason for the visit.
The Department claimed
no knowledge of her job;
when he said he had informed the Department,
he was told point blank
he was lying.
His solicitor advised him:
it would be his word
against the Department’s.
Best thing to do:
plead guilty.
‘What happened to innocent
until proven guilty?’ he asked.
The solicitor
shook his head.
On the day of his court appearance
he was handed down
community punishment:
160 hours.

[Morning Star, 26/07/2011, Who are the real benefit cheats?]

31 when this also failed, she walked

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One of the first officers to arrive at the scene
noted evidence of a poor attempt
to clean up the mess;
watered-down blood in the kitchen.
Officers noted how her husband had blood on his clothes.
His brother, who received a call at work
urging him to rush round to the house,
had dirt on his hands.
Both men were arrested
but cleared of any involvement;
close examinations of the pattern of blood
ruled out foul play.
Her husband had woken up to find her missing.
He discovered an empty packets of painkillers,
blood,
a note.
She had been worrying about a meeting she was due to have
to discuss her entitlement to disability benefits.
Her health problems meant she had to give up
her job at the bakery. She was described
as cheerful, hardworking and trusted.
Her husband’s model shop had recently collapsed,
plunging the couple into financial difficulties.
They were forced to sell her childhood home.
It was likely
she had walked to the shed to fetch craft knives
in order to cut herself
after finding a serrated kitchen knife
was not sharp enough.
When this also failed, she walked to the Drain –
fifteen minutes from the couple’s home –
where her body was found.
She had died of drowning,
more than ten self-inflicted cuts
on her wrists.

[Hull Daily Mail (via Black Triangle Campaign), 12/07/2011, Woman who drowned in drain was upset about health check]

43 the night before his medical

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He worked for forty years:
a miner, then a telecoms engineer.
Following a heart attack
and several strokes
his doctors ordered him to stop working.
He had claimed for three years,
ninety-one pounds a week.
He had already gone through an eight-month appeal
to keep his benefits,
but following a crackdown on ‘spongers’
he was ordered to undergo a medical test.
He died of a massive heart attack
the night before his medical
as he scoured the internet
for ways to raise cash.

[Daily Mirror, 22/05/2011, Stress of Tory benefits tests killed our dad, family claims]

45 everything through a mist

Posted on
She was diagnosed
with ovarian cancer:
major surgery
chemo
sickness
hair loss
complicated jargon, red
tape.
As well as working
her husband cared for her.
‘Having chemotherapy makes you see
everything through a mist.’
One day
she came downstairs
to discover her husband
lying on the living room floor
dead.
Afterward
the Department told her
she could no longer claim employment support
because her bereavement benefit
was five pounds more a week
and she was not allowed
to claim for both.

[Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 26/01/2011, I didn’t ask to be ill, I just asked for support]

53 it’s not as if nobody knew

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They kept food in plastic bags
in the shed;
the cold night air.
They couldn’t afford a fridge,
couldn’t afford to heat their house.
They lived in one room.
Every Sunday they walked
six miles each way
to a soup kitchen
to have something to eat
and pick up food bags,
free vegetables
to cook into a broth
on a camping stove.
It’s not as if nobody knew.
 
A year ago,
they appeared in a film
about living below
the breadline.
She had learning difficulties
and needed support from her husband,
an army veteran.
He was her full-time carer.
The Jobcentre decided she couldn’t sign on;
she wasn’t fit
for work.
Her benefits were stopped.
He worked in the army
as a PE instructor,
but fell on hard times
after the service.
Struggled to cope with
civvy street.
Their 12-year-old daughter
was taken into care.
He fought to get a carer’s allowance
but they wouldn’t recognise his wife’s disabilities.
He was told he could not claim
until she had been fully diagnosed:
month after
month after
month of specialists, living
hand
to mouth.
They were terrified she was about to be sectioned.
They stayed with relatives and friends
to avoid the authorities.
They walked everywhere
hand-in-hand
like young lovers.
Neighbours raised the alarm.
They had not been seen for several weeks.
This is where despair ends.
They were found
lying side by side
on the settee.
A police spokesman said
post-mortem examinations
had been carried out.
The deaths are being treated
as unexplained.

[The Daily Mirror, 11/11/2011, The tragic story of suicides Mark and Helen Mullins is a tale our politicians should pay attention to; Coventry Telegraph, 08/11/2011, Bedworth ‘suicide pact’ couple found lying side-by-side; Coventry Telegraph, 11/05/2021, Death of Warwickshire couple included in review into serious harms of people claiming benefits; Channel 4 News, 09/11/2011, Police investigate death of couple; BBC News, 09/11/2011, Inquiry call over Mark and Helen Mullins deaths; Metro, 08/11/2011, Married couple driven to commit suicide by utter poverty; Mail Online, 09/11/2011, Army veteran and his wife die in tragic ‘suicide pact’ after becoming ‘too poor to live through the winter’]