Violet Ecclestone, 91 ... part two

Further evidence of a 91 year old honest woman shafted by the old bill and her local corrupt council

1.       At this point, I contacted my local MP, Henry Bellingham, advising him that as this contradicts a Court decision, the matter should be investigated by the Government Ombudsman. The Public Health Act 1936 section 302 states that if a Court varies or revokes a Council notice, the Council has a duty to comply with the order of the Court. The legal meaning of ‘order’ is the final decision of the Court. 

2.       Mr Bellingham asked for the originals of all my documents (not copies) to be sent to the Ombudsman.

3.       Mr Bellingham duly sent these documents off and I have not had the originals returned.

4.      I asked Henry Bellingham to advise the Council that they cannot take any actions whilst the Ombudsman is investigating.

5.      Many months later, the Ombudsman said that matters that have been before a Court are outside of his jurisdiction to investigate because he cannot get involved in the business of the Court. He confirmed that a Court decision is final. This is compliant with section 302 of the Public Health Act 1936.

      [Exhibit RAE9, letter from Local Government Ombudsman to Chief Executive,    King’s Lynn and West Norfolk      Borough Council dated 28 June 2008 and 07    November 2008]

6.      We heard no more until my father died on 22 November 2008.

     

      [Exhibit RAE10, copy of death certificate for Albert Edward Ecclestone, dated 18          March 2009]

7.       On Saturday 22 November 2008, my father was taken ill in the evening. I telephoned the doctor’s surgery and it went to an answerphone in Norwich. They advised me to take my father to hospital immediately.

8.       I asked if it would be better for me to take him in my car because it can sometimes take a while for an ambulance to arrive. They told me that had to be my decision.

9.       My mother and I managed to get my father into the car but as he was so weak he had to lie down in the back of the estate car as if he were in an ambulance.

10.  When we arrived at the hospital, I notified the duty personnel as to what had happened and they removed my father from the car and into the hospital. We were asked to take a seat in the waiting room.

11.  Some while later we were informed by the doctor that my father had died. He asked a question in such a way that he implied the answer was “No.” He said, “Do you want us to try to revive him? I wouldn’t advise it because we might break his ribs and his quality of life would not be good because of his mental condition.”

12.  Thinking that this would be in Albert’s best interests, my mother and I agreed not to revive him.

13.  Both my mother and I regret that decision now.

14.  Although the death certificate states that he died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital of natural causes, which they were aware of within 24 hours, the Hospital informed the Police.

15.  I was arrested later that same evening by police officers from Norwich.

16.  I was arrested on suspicion of my father’s death.

17.        My mother was taken to a care home at Terrington St. John and I was taken to King’s Lynn police station.

18.        The police took my car keys and took the car away for examination.

19.        The police also took my keys to the house.

20.        I was held in the cells overnight. I managed to speak to a solicitor on the telephone. He said he had never heard of such a case before.

21.        I was interviewed in the early hours of the morning.

22.        I was bailed for one month and told that I could not go home, but had to return to the police station at 3pm the following afternoon.

23.        The police took my own clothes away and gave me paper-thin clothes to wear around town. I got a bad case of influenza as a direct result of this.

24.         I was not allowed home until the Monday afternoon, when a police officer took me to the police compound where my car was being held. He told me to drive home and said that he would follow me to the house.

25.        When we arrived at the house, there was a police officer present at the house and I learned that there had been a police presence at the house since the Saturday evening because they regarded the house as a crime scene.

26.        The police told me that I could not pick my mother up until the following day, after she had been seen by Social workers.

27.         The house was in a complete mess. The police had been in it and they pulled our possessions off the shelves. My mother’s handbag was found lying open on the kitchen floor.

28.        On the Tuesday, I went to the care home and we had an interview with two social workers – Tracey Hawke and Andrea Wood.

29.        Tracey Hawke asked me questions about the Council Notice and the Court, upon which I explained that it was all complete because we had appealed to the Court and our Appeal had been allowed by the Court.

30.        She gave me her phone number because she said she wanted to visit us at the house at some stage.

31.        My mother told her that she didn’t want all the stress of social workers coming to the house, so she asked me to phone Tracey Hawke and tell her not to come.

32.        When I called Tracey Hawke, the number went straight through to Swaffham Police station.

33.        She was unavailable, so I wrote a letter to the Social Services, saying thank you for your help, but my mother and I do not require the support of social services because we want to maintain our right to privacy and family life.

34.        We received no reply.

35.        I was still suffering from this very bad attack of influenza. On 12 December 2008, my mother said “We’ll have to go out today because we do not have enough food in the house. Let’s go to Long Sutton market where you can see your friends and they might help you to feel better.”

36.        On the afternoon of 12 December 2008 on returning home from shopping, we were met by police cars.

37.        The police had already broken into our property, broken the gate lock and the house lock.

38.        The police ordered us out of our car and took me a few yards away.

39.        I was questioned and I had my head hit on the bonnet of a car. I heard a lot of shouting and I didn’t know what was going on. The next thing I knew, my head was pushed with great force against the car bonnet.

40.        I saw my mum walking up the driveway and then she was taken away by force and was then put in an unmarked car which I believe was driven by the police. She managed to get out and started to go up our drive way but was grabbed by someone I believe to be a policewoman.

41.        She was taken back to the car.

42.        According to my mother, a plain-clothed policeman then took the side panel from the car and locked it so that she couldn’t get out.

43.        I believe that in the car were Tracey Hawke and Andrea Wood, both social workers. I had met these women before just after my father died and I was unlawfully arrested on suspicion of his death, though my father had died of natural causes.

44.        I was not told where my mother had been taken to. I was told that she would be returned within three days.

45.        I now believe, from information my mother has given me, that she was taken without her knowledge or consent to Westfields Care Home at Swaffham. I later learnt that a police helicopter had been out looking for her 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 mother. The woman running the Auction had already informed the police (in their door-to-door enquiries) that I had gone shopping with my mother. I also cannot understand why a search would be required when my mother had not been reported missing.

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

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

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

      [Exhibit RAE11, letter from Nichola Thatcher, for Head of Legal Services to Robert       Ecclestone, dated 10 March 2009]

49.         The police told me that my mother would only be away from home for about three days, but it is now more than 4½ years.

50.         My mother does not want to live in a care home and she wants to return to her own home.

51.        After the three days had expired, I telephoned the police and was told that someone was coming to see me the next day to tell me where my mother was.

52.        I assumed that they would be either police officers or social workers, but they were in fact council officers from King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council by the names of David Clack and Clare Hanna.

53.        They told me that they did not know where my mother was. I believe this was a lie.

54.        They said they had come to see whether I had complied with Council Notices. They gave me a letter dated 17 December 2008 – signed by David Clack – saying that the Court had confirmed the Notices and they were going to take Enforcement action.

      [Exhibit RAE12, letter from David Clack, Principal Officer Housing Standards to          Robert Ecclestone, dated 17 December 2008]

55.        I reminded them that both of my Appeals against the Council Notices were allowed by the Court: the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act notice was subject to the removal of old cars which I showed them had been complied with – old cars had been removed.

56.        Mr Clack was in disagreement with me.

57.        Mr Clack and Ms Hanna would not accept that there no Court Orders against me or my mother, so I saw a solicitor by the name of Dean Payne, of Hawkins Solicitors (19 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, PE30 1JW).

58.        Mr Payne wrote to the Council, requesting to see copies of the Court Orders.

      [Exhibit RAE13, letter from Dean Payne, Hawkins Solicitors to David Clack,       Housing Standards, BCKLWN, dated 5 February  2009]

59.        He did not receive a reply, so he wrote again.

60.        Mr Clack lied to the Solicitor when he told him that the Council Notice appeals had not been allowed by the Court.

61.        At about this time, the Social Worker (Andrea Wood), informed me of the whereabouts of my mother.

62.        Dean Payne contacted Andrea Wood and asked for details of the Court Hearing for the Appeals in 2007. Ms Wood said that Norfolk County Council had no records of our Appeals to the Court.

      [Exhibit RAE14, fax message from Andrea Wood, Social Worker to Dean Payne,            Hawkins Solicitor, dated 08 January 2009 ]

63.        I was on police bail for a month and when that month expired, they renewed it for another month.

64.        This meant that my father’s funeral was delayed from 22 November 2008 until 5 February 2009. This delay caused my mother and me considerable alarm and distress. Bad weather, relations being on holiday, stigma of police involvement meant that only my mother and I were present at my father’s funeral which caused us both further distress.

65.        Sometime in January 2009, I had a visit from Clare Hanna and David Clack. They told me that I should put all my valuables in the loft and in two other rooms so that “…they would be safe when we come to remove all the rubbish from your house…”

     

66.        I told them that they had no authority to remove possessions from our house so they then said, “we are only coming to clean the property.”

67.        Dean Payne had a meeting with Council Officers on the same day as my father’s funeral, and I was therefore unable to attend.

      [Exhibit RAE15, Attendance Note by Dean Payne, Hawkins Solicitors, dated 06   February 2009]

68.        Mr Payne told Mr Clack and Ms Hanna that he was writing to the Court to ask the Court what was agreed in 2007 because “…there seems to be contention between what you (the Council) are saying and what my client says…” 

     

      [Exhibit RAE16, Letter from Dean Payne, Hawkins Solicitors, to King’s Lynn      Magistrates’ Court dated 05 February 2009]

69.        Henry Bellingham MP also wrote to the Court requesting details of the Hearing in 2007.

      [Exhibit RAE17, Letter from Henry Bellingham, MP to King’s Lynn County Court,          dated 23 January 2009]

      [Exhibit RAE18, Letter from Dona van Tankeren to Henry Bellingham, MP dated 13     February 2009]

70.        Mr Clack and Ms Hanna said to Mr Payne that “…We can’t wait. We’re going in on Monday (9^th February 2009) to clear the property…”

      [Exhibit RAE19, Attendance Note by Dean Payne, Hawkins Solicitors, dated 05   February 2009]

71.        Mr Payne said that he could not stop them, but I believe that he could have got an injunction to stop them until he had received a reply to his letter (dated 5 February 2009).

     

72.        From evidence that I have in my possession, Mr Payne took a two-week holiday from 9^th February 2009.

      [Exhibit RAE20, letter from Dean Payne, Hawkins Solicitors to Robert Ecclestone,         dated 02 July 2009]

         

73.        The Court replied to Mr Payne stating that both Appeals were allowed by the Court and that providing the cars had been removed, the Council had no case against me or my mother.

            [Exhibit RAE21, letter from King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court to Dean Payne, dated 27    February 2009]

74.        By the time the letter reached the Solicitor, the case had been closed by the Solicitor and our property had been unlawfully removed. Every room in the house had been emptied.