Tag: Police

05 he didn’t know how he was going to live

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No witnesses gave evidence
at the inquest,
only the coroner read out
written statements
from the man’s doctor, the first paramedic
to attend him after he collapsed,
a police sergeant who investigated
his death, the pathologist
who carried out
his post-mortem.
The day he died
he was awaiting the results of an appeal
against being found fit for work.
He visited the jobcentre,
and was asked to climb some stairs.
Heart disease, sarcoidosis,
diabetes, cirrhosis,
depression, anxiety,
agoraphobia and high blood pressure;
he had been referred to a respiratory clinic; had been diagnosed
with Asperger’s syndrome.
He had previously lost his job because of depression;
he was falling asleep at work; serious breathing difficulties.
Despite a ‘fit note’ from his doctor
he had started a new job within a few days;
he wanted to work.
But his employer realised how unwell he was, and was worried.
He lost the job.
He told the jobcentre staff
he would have a heart attack
if he climbed the stairs.
Told he could use the lift,
he asked if someone could accompany him
because of his claustrophobia.
He was told this was not possible.
It was agreed that someone would come down
to speak to him.
After leaving the Jobcentre
he went to see a friend,
who calmed him down.
He was worried about work, about
money.
They weren’t going to give him disability benefits.
He didn’t know how he was going to live.
Hours later
he collapsed in the street
and died.

[Disability News Service, 11/08/2022, Shock after inquest ignores ‘fitness for work’ and jobcentre concerns]

14 she was no longer allowed to work

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After her leave to remain expired
she was no longer allowed to work.
She claimed asylum,
was relying on food from friends
and charities.
No one had heard from her for four days.
Her one-year-old son
weakened from starvation
was found by police
crying
beside her body.

[Herald Scotland, 25/08/2020, Mum ‘found dead beside starving one-year-old baby’ in Glasgow flat]

16 one evening in August

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He has a mental health problem.
He takes triple medication.
He reports self harm in the past.’
He was assessed in May.
‘He attempted an overdose six weeks ago
but he would not say what he took.’
In June, the Department told him
he was fit to work,
and that his support was being
withdrawn.
‘The evidence overall suggests
that he is not at substantial risk.’
In an appeal letter, he wrote:
‘I disagree with your decision.’
He had worked cleaning buses
for three years
but he could not cope.
‘I have serious mental health problems
that prevent me from doing everyday tasks
which means I cannot work at this moment in time.’
He was placed on strong medication
but his mental health had worsened:
sleeplessness, memory loss, paranoia.
He would claim people were trying to poison him.
He thought the police were following him.
‘I did try and explain this
to the medical examiner.’
He was informed in July of the Department’s final say.
They backed the decision.
One evening in August
he got a bus to the Forth Road Bridge
walked to the middle
and jumped.
He was recovered from the water
but that night in hospital
he died.
His father believes
he may have been a schizophrenic.
Since his death
his mother had been in hospital,
not eating.
The Department sent their sympathies to the family.

[Daily Record, 22/09/2013, Heartbroken dad blames benefits axemen for driving his ill son to commit suicide]

18 Dirge 1: for when you think you will be well again

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The dispatcher noted on the call log that the patient wanted to die,
but this particular piece of information was not conveyed.
The information which the crew were given was:
Psychiatric/Abnormal behaviour/
Suicide attempt;
trying to slit wrists; Armed with a weapon –
glass.
Therefore
the crew were given adequate information
of the patient’s intent.
She was due to attend the Jobcentre on the fourth
to make her declaration of unemployment
in order to remain eligible for her benefit payment.
However, she contacted the centre that day
to say she was sick.
She subsequently attended on the seventh
where she explained that she had not come in on the fourth
because she was ill.
She was asked to complete a form
to formally declare her sickness.
She completed and returned the form,
then immediately left.
This meant that the Work Coach
was unable to discuss
the details of the statement she had made:
‘I was busy trying to kill myself,
drinking non-stop.’
There is a space on the form
for the date when you started being unwell
(she put the fourth)
and another
for when you think you will be well again
(she put the seventh).
The coach discussed his concerns with his line manager, and
recorded the incident
in accordance with Department procedures.
Policies state
that employees are empowered
to take any reasonable steps,
including contacting the emergency services,
if they feel the customer
faces clear and significant risks to their welfare
or safety. In this case,
based on the information he had,
the Work Coach made a judgement
that there was no immediate risk to the customer’s safety.
She died later that same day.
On the morning of the sixth,
she reported that a man had attempted to rape her in her home.
One of the first-responding officers,
on encountering her outside her address,
noticed blood on her clothing, and,
quite properly,
attempted to persuade her
to allow police to seize the clothing
for forensic examination,
and to dissuade her from immediately returning to her home,
the apparent crime scene.
A third party witness
expressed surprise at the intrusiveness of the questioning,
conducted by a male officer
in a public area;
a less than ideal situation.
The witness added that,
although the officers’ questions were not in any way inappropriate,
and they had explained why they needed to ask them,
she would herself have felt
uncomfortable
answering such questions
in such a way.
The second attending officer sought advice
from the Team Detective Sergeant
regarding how best to proceed with the agitated woman
who informed the officers that she had been
drinking throughout the preceding night. In line with best practice
a female Sexual Offences Investigation Trained (SOIT) officer
was tasked to attend.
Despite difficulties,
officers obtained
sufficient detail
to circulate a description of the suspect,
who was promptly arrested nearby.
(He was later released.)
It was clear that there was some tension
between the desire on the part of the initial attending officers
to achieve best evidence
and the manner and location of the communication
between the woman and those officers,
necessitated by the character of contact
between the parties.
She walked off towards her flat;
an officer followed
trying to prevent her from entering.
Once outside the address he and another officer
tried to explain to her
why the scene needed to be preserved
but she continued to be obstructive.
She continued to demand that she be allowed to enter her flat
and threatened
to kick her own door down. Eventually
she used her keys to enter the address
and closed the door.
Research indicated she was capable
of being volatile and violent
when intoxicated.
Reports for example
indicated she had assaulted police in her home
five months earlier
when they attended there
to check on her welfare.
The Detective Sergeant
decided that
in her present state of mind
she was no longer suitable
for an immediate SOIT officer deployment,
and instead arranged for an officer
to re-attend the address
with a colleague
the following day,
which was the seventh.
On arrival
the front door was closed.
The officer knocked several times
before a female voice from within said ‘Who
is it?’
It’s the police. Can you open the door please?
The voice
replied ‘Everything
is fine. There is
no crime here.’
Can you open the door?
I don’t want to force it open.
We just need to speak to you
that’s all.
The door was opened.
She said
‘I don’t need
you lot. You can
fuck off.’
The officer explained
they were asked to attend
on behalf of the ambulance service
as they had been contacted
by someone threatening
to harm themselves
with a piece of broken glass.
‘Well it’s not me. I don’t need
you lot here. I
never asked you
to come so can
you please fuck
off.’
Have you hurt yourself with some glass?
She replied
‘No.’
What’s your name?
‘You don’t need
to know my
name it’s all
on your systems.’
The officer stated he saw a letter
and a bank card
on the sofa
which confirmed her name.
He said
Have you called for an ambulance?
She replied
‘No. I don’t need
an ambulance and I don’t know
why
you are here.’
Could anybody else
have called an ambulance for you?
Have you phoned a friend or
anybody to say
you were going to hurt yourself
with some glass?
She replied
‘No. Look
I never
called
you lot
please
fuck
off.’
The ambulance crew arrived,
and took over the lead in continuing attempts
to rapport-build,
only to experience
similar difficulties.
It was during this period that the SOIT officer and a colleague arrived
having postponed their initial visit
from the previous day, the sixth.
No officer present briefed the ambulance crew
regarding the alleged sexual assault.
On this occasion too, having been briefed by the first officer
on the woman’s state of mind
and volatility,
and by the ambulance crew
regarding her
nevertheless
evident mental capacity
and lack of immediate welfare concerns,
all parties decided
once again
to leave.
About forty minutes later, she left her home.
She is seen on CCTV entering the station.
The train was not driver-operated.
It was travelling at only 15 miles per hour.
It happened so quickly, commuters
continued reading their papers.
They had no idea
what she was doing.
The proximate cause of death was injuries sustained
when she stepped in front of the train.

[Responses from the Metropolitan Police (17/03/2016), London Ambulance Service (11/03/2016) and the DWP (undated) to the Prevention of Future Deaths report made by Coroner ME Hassell, 20/1/2016; added details from The Guardian, 06/02/2016, Faiza Ahmed: how one woman’s cries for help were missed by every authority]

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]

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]

35 a large amount of medication

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His housemate found him in bed
a large amount of medication
on his bedside table.
The housemate last saw him
two days before
(he had spent the day in bed himself
due to illness)
but decided to check on him when
he stopped hearing noises
coming from his room.
He did not move the body.
He called the aumbulance service,
who recorded the time of death – 3.33 –
and also called police to the scene.
The post-mortem and toxicology tests
found he had lethal levels
of four different medicines
in his system.
A note was left on his unlocked phone.
It said:
Can you thank the people
who work at the Department?

[Derby Telegraph, 12/04/2019, Tragic tenant left suicide note sarcastically ‘thanking’ Universal Credit bosses]

42 down the stairs, fussing

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Two years after his wife’s death,
her widower was visited
by the husband of his niece.
‘I went in the back door.
The dog came flying
down the stairs, fussing.
He must have been in the room with him.’
He had suffered depression
following his wife’s death.
‘I went upstairs. I had
an awful feeling.
I put my head round the door.
I could see him lying at the side of the bed.
His face was straight down and
I just knew.’
Police officers searched the home;
empty packets of insulin.
An officer found a draft text message on his phone.
It gave the name of his niece.
It said, ‘I’m so sorry,
I hope you can forgive me one day.’

[Hull Daily Mail, 16/05/2013, Man found dead after wife drowned in Holderness Drain]

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’]

62 stop worrying

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You are a fucking bitch”: a man’s voice.
Then the sound of violent banging,
a woman’s sobs.
Officers were on the way;
sobbing and breathing heavily,
she said the man had retreated.
Police arrived and arrested him.
She had opened her window.
If the man had succeeded in getting through the door
she was prepared to jump two floors to escape.
The woman was calling from her bedroom.
She had been placed in ‘exempt’ supported housing
after leaving prison –
a five-year term for serious fraud and deception.
She had a history of mental illness:
suicide attempts, spells in psychiatric hospitals.
She had been the victim of violent abuse
at the hands of a former partner:
twice he had fractured her skull;
marks on her arms; burn scars
snaking across her chest,
where he had set her on fire
while she slept.
The man hammering on her door that night
was a troubled alcoholic with demons of his own.
He was under
a suspended prison sentence
for making threats with a machete.
Police ultimately did not bring charges against him –
a result of conflicting versions of events that night.
“Officers attended the address just after midnight
and arrested a man.
It was alleged he had
been verbally aggressive to the woman,
made threats, and
damaged the door to her room.
The woman was not injured.
The man was later released without charge;
the property owner said
the damage to the door
was already there.
He would not support
a prosecution.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said
“Prisoners released without somewhere to live
are 50 per cent more likely to reoffend.
Providing basic accommodation on release
helps cut crime and make
our streets safer.”
The man was moved to another property.
Exempt accommodation: supported housing
funded through a higher rate of housing benefit, exempt
from caps applied to normal housing.
Prison leavers, rough sleeper, refugees and migrants,
substance abusers, people with mental health issues,
disabilities, people at risk of homelessness:
strangers
housed together, mostly left
to their own devices, with arms-length help
amounting to an hour or so of dedicated support a week;
a support worker
at the end of a mobile phone.
She has lost weight and become more ill;
thefts were so common
she now stored her kitchen pans and cutlery in her bedroom.
She described a fellow resident:
he had not been out of his pyjamas or had a wash
for five weeks; he kept her awake all night.
Access is via a steel staircase.
Inside, the corridors and shared kitchen and common room
are monitored by CCTV with audio mics;
private conversations may be listened to.
Bedrooms are small.
A hole burnt in the kitchen top,
rusted hobs. The common area and kitchen
are full of the belongings of one of the tenants;
crudely written notices in felt tip
on stereo, tv, kitchen gear:
‘hands off’.
Heating comes from plugged in storage heaters.
In the night it’s freezing.
“I eat two sausages and vegetables every night,
cereal in the morning.
I don’t drink, don’t take drugs, yet
it’s all around.
Nobody seems to do anything much about it.”
At her lowest point she tried to jump in front of a train.
She was pulled back at the last minute;
another spell in psychiatic hospital.
“While living here
suicide is the only thing
that goes through my head,
day in,
day out.
The owners say I am too much hard work for them,
they said
they didn’t have problems
before I moved in.
It’s not a great place to be.
The landlord told me
‘just ignore it’, stop worrying
about other people.”

[Birmingham Live, 25/09/2021, Chaos, fear and suicide attempts – life inside ‘exempt’ housing in Birmingham]