How the local council and old bill shafted this innocent lady, aged 91

AFFIDAVIT OF

VIOLET FLORENCE ECCLESTONE

I, Violet Florence Ecclestone, of Spire View, Cotts Lane, Tilney All Saints, PE34 4SL, a widow, make oath and say as follows:

1.     My name is Violet Florence Ecclestone.

2.     My date of birth is 10 August 1922.

3.     I currently live at Westfields Care Home, Westfields Road, Swaffham, PE37 7HE.

4.     On the afternoon of 12 December 2008 on returning home from shopping with my son who was driving our car, we were met by police cars.

5.     The police ordered us out of our car and took my son a few yards away.

6.     My son was questioned and had his head hit on the bonnet of a car. I heard a lot of shouting and the noise of my son’s head hitting the car bonnet.

7.     I was then put in an unmarked car which I believe was driven by the police. I  managed to get out and started to go up our drive way but was grabbed by someone I believe to be a policewoman.

8.     I was taken back to the car.

9.     Then a plain-clothed policeman took the side panel from the car and locked it so that I couldn’t get out.

10.                        In the car was Tracey Hawke and Anthea Wood, both social workers. I had met these women before just after my husband died and my son was unlawfully arrested on suspicion of his murder, though my husband died of natural causes.

11.                        I was taken without my knowledge or consent to Westfields Care Home at Swaffham. I later learnt that a police helicopter had been out looking for me that day. I cannot understand why they would do this because people knew at the Auction in the Tilney All Saints village hall that I had gone shopping with my son. The woman running the Auction had already informed the police that I had gone shopping with my son.

12.                         Upon our return to our home, we found that the Police had broken into our home.

13.                         I believe that they knew that we had gone out and that nobody would be at home.

14.                         From information I later received from neighbours, the Police arrived within an hour of us leaving.

15.                         The Police had committed criminal damage to my home. I have tried to seek compensation, but the Police refuse to pay me.

16.                         I was told that I would only be away from my home for a few days, but it is now more than 4½ years.

17.                         I do not want to live in a care home and I want to return to my own home.

18.                         The King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council refuse me permission to return home but they have no lawful authority to do this.

19.                         The Council have the support of the Police.

20.                         I believe that this matter needs urgently investigating.

21.                         I was also told by Social Services that they would pay the home fees, but I have since been told that I must pay. I believe that this is because they want to bankrupt me and my son so that they can force Robert, my son, to sell the family home in order to pay the care home fees.

22.                         A solicitor known to me as Dean Payne of Hawkins Solicitors (19 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, PE30 1JW) mentioned that the Council wanted to demolish my home.

23.                         I have it in writing from the Council that Social Services are now paying the care home fees.

24.                         I have been advised that under section 36 of the Public Health Act 1961, which the Council had unlawfully enforced, the Council is liable to pay.

25.                         Everything that my son has said in his Affidavit is true.

26.                         On Saturday 14 February 2009, KLWN Borough Council officer John Greenhalgh arrived at my home with an unidentified woman and two contractors from Bright’s Cleaning Services. They said they had come to clear out one of the rooms in my home. This room contained many valuables, which Clare Hanna (of the Council) had earlier promised my son would not be touched.

27.                         My son told Mr Greenhalgh that he could not clear out that room, but Mr Greenhalgh said, “I’ve got a Court Order to clear that room.”

28.                         My son told him that he did not have a Court Order, but Mr Greenhalgh said he did and he would call the Police.

29.                         My son said he would call the Police and he did call them.

30.                         When the Police arrived, it was the same policeman who brutally beat my son in the previous December.

31.                         My son explained to the officer that the Council did not have a valid Court Order, but the policeman refused to listen to my son and allowed the contractors and Mr Greenhalgh to enter my home and unlawfully remove almost all of our possessions and valuables. My son has spent his entire adult life collecting these valuables. 

32.                        The Council stole rare coins, old postcards (more than 100,000), a 1549 first edition Book of Common Prayer, rare stamps, cigarette cards, jewellery, at least 500 old and rare books, first day covers, medals, military badges, bank notes, antique magazines, rare paintings, old prints, old share certificates and bonds, antique newspapers (such as 1790 editions of The Times), old car brochures, Matchbox toys (many still in boxes), an old microscope, Roman artefacts and various other items.

33.                         My son and I are currently compiling a full inventory of goods stolen from our home by the Council with the full knowledge of the Police.

34.                         The Council did not have the agreement of the Court to undertake this operation which appeared to have been organised along military lines.

35.                         Additionally, more than two van loads of our private possessions were taken into storage by the Council which refused to return our possessions to us.

36.                         The first edition of the Book of Common Prayer 1549 was given to me by my mother when I married in 1945. She told me that the book had been passed down from her grandfather so it had been in the family for at least 200 years.

37.                         The first edition was certified as genuine more than 25 years ago. I believe it had been printed on handmade paper.

38.                         It is my belief that David Clack of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Council is related to Marcus Anthony Mallett of Bright’s Cleaning Services Ltd, the contractors who removed and handled the stolen property from our house.

39.                         My son and I had thousands of personal photographs and other items stolen by the Council.

40.                         I want to return to my home with my son forthwith.

41.                         I am willing to take a lie detector test to prove that the statements I have made in this Affidavit are true.

42.                         My son and I have contacted the Police on several occasions to report these crimes against us, but the Police have done nothing other than to deny any responsibility.

43.                         My human rights – and those of my son – have been breached significantly, especially at Articles 3, 6, 8 and 10. Furthermore, there are significant breaches of Protocol 1 Article 1 (Protection of Property).

44.                         I believe that I am being unlawfully detained against my will and have been since I was unlawfully removed from my home without a Court Order.