Violet Ecclestone, part 4

1.             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.

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

3.             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.

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

5.             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.

6.             We received no reply.

7.             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.”

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

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

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

11.        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.

12.        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.

13.        She was taken back to the car.

14.        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.

15.        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.

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

17.        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.

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

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

20.         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]

21.         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.

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

23.        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.

24.        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.

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

26.        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]

27.        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.

28.        Mr Clack was in disagreement with me.

29.        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).

30.        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]

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

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

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

34.        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 ]

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

36.        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.

37.        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…”

     

38.        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.”

39.        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]

40.        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]

41.        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]

42.        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]

43.        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).

     

44.        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]

         

45.        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]

46.        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.