Violet Ecclestone, part 5

[Exhibit RAE22, letter from Andy Piper, Executive Director, Environmental Health             and Housing to Henry Bellingham, MP dated 18 March 2009]

1.             On 9 February 2009 I telephoned the Solicitor’s office and was told that he was on holiday and that no-one else could help me.

2.             A colleague of Mr Payne’s told me that if they take anything from my property, I could sue them for damages. He said that for it to be lawful there would have to be an Order from the Court and a list of all possessions they had a valid reason to take.

3.             I believe that no such Order from the Court exists.

4.             On 9 February 2009, I phoned the MP, Henry Bellingham, and told his answer machine that this is urgent because the Council are here in my home taking our property which they had no right to do and that my solicitor was on holiday.

5.             I heard nothing from him, but his secretary arrived two weeks later on the last day that property was being removed from the bungalow.

6.             Council workers were in the house from around 10am until 3pm, including an hour for lunch.

7.             The Council Officers attended for approximately two-three weeks. The Magistrates’ Court has no records of issuing a warrant and therefore their presence against our will was unlawful.

8.             On Wednesday 11 February 2009, Clare Hanna ordered a room to be emptied where she had previously told me in January to store valuables and they would not be touched.

9.             I believe that she lied to me and that she deliberately told me to store valuables in two rooms and the loft so that she would know where the valuables were.

10.        I believe that I had done the job for her by separating the valuable possessions from other possessions.

11.        Everything that was removed on this day was not recorded.

12.        On Wednesday 11 February 2009, Lyn Ibbitson, who I believe is a former antiques dealer, came with a shopping bag and I saw her steal silver coins, British silver crowns from 1800s, George III, Victoria and Edward VII, American silver dollar coins dated from 1800s, etc.

13.        I then telephoned the police and told them that valuables were being stolen from the house. DC Rumbelow and two social workers (Andrea Wood and Tracey Hawke) then came to the property and were told Lyn Ibbitson and Clare Hanna that there was a Court Order to clear the property and so they were entitled to take the property.

14.        My mother was at the house and DC Rumbelow and the two social workers took her back to Westfields because they claimed she was making trouble and I was told that if I complained I would be arrested.

15.        DC Rumbelow failed to report a crime. He failed to investigate my complaint that a crime was taking place under his very nose.

16.        On the same day (11 February 2009) two other people came to the house. The manager of Age Concern, Sue Lowe, previously phoned and asked if my mother was at home because Mrs Lowe wanted to come and see her. By the time she arrived in the afternoon, my mother had been forcibly removed against her will and taken back to Westfields.

      [Exhibit RAE23, Council record re Tracey Hawke dated 12 February 2009]

17.        Mrs Lowe saw the main rooms in the bungalow before much property had been removed. She later visited and saw that every room was empty and the house vandalised and she was shocked. She saw possessions being removed from the house. She saw that in the living room our furniture was in good condition. She later identified photographs of ‘before’ and ‘after’.

          [Exhibit RAE24, letter from Sue Lowe, former Manager of Age Concern, dated 04 March 2011]

18.        Before the police took my mother away, they were concerned that she looked pale because of the stress and so they telephoned for a doctor to examine her.

19.        Dr. A.N. Sherwood of St. James House Surgery, County Court Road, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 5SY came out to the house and examined my mother.

20.        He said that she was in good health for her age, but was clearly stressed by the incident.

21.        I wrote to Dr Sherwood with photographs that I had taken of the house before the removal and he confirmed that that was how he remembered the house when he visited on 11 February 2009.

      [Exhibit RAE25, letter from Dr A.N. Sherwood, St James’ Medical Practice to Robert       Ecclestone dated 16 February 2011 and a set of four photographs, two ‘before’ and      two ‘after’ the Council’s intervention]

22.        I later saw Dr Sherwood at his surgery and he told me he would do anything he could to help because it did not make sense to him what the Council had done.

23.        On the same day, 11 February 2009, a student known to me as Kristen Bailey, removed thousands of cigarette cards and first day covers and she confirmed to me that she did not know what they were and she thought they were old bits of cardboard and old envelopes that had to be cleared. She told me that she would get me arrested if I continued to keep complaining. She kept removing her mobile phone from her pocket and said that she only had to press one button and the police would arrive to take me into custody.

24.        John Greenhalgh also came on Wednesday 11 February 2009 because this was the day that valuables were being removed.

25.        I was most surprised to find them also turn up at the property on 14 February 2009 because this was a Saturday and I believe that Council Officers do not normally work on Saturdays.

26.        Also John Greenhalgh was a senior officer on the Council and yet he was doing hands-on work on Saturday 14 February 2009. He came into our house and physically took boxes from one of the rooms where the valuables were stored on the “advice” of Clare Hanna and David Clack and although he had a female assistant who was supposed to record everything removed from our property, he told her to go home and nothing was recorded.

27.        It was a bitterly cold day, but Mr Greenhalgh was sweating. He took all the boxes and threw them out of a window into the garden. Two contractors were outside and gathering up the boxes and putting them into skips at the end of the driveway.

28.        This was the same Mr Greenhalgh who said 18 months previously that he would clear my house. He also said that “...when we do this job, we will just take boxes as they come without looking at the contents...” This was put to the Ombudsman by way of a complaint. On 14 February 2009, Mr Greenhalgh carried out his threats.

29.        Council Officers arrived again on Monday 16 February 2009, Tuesday 17 February, Wednesday 18 February, Thursday 19 February and Friday 20 February 2009.

30.        I believe that on Friday 20 February 2009, the loft was cleared.

31.        In the loft were the following items: rare books, postcards, prints, paintings, coins, stamps and a 1549 Common Book of Prayer, first edition. This prayer book is extremely rare because most of them were destroyed when Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553. There were also three valuable water colours by Thomas Baines. Clare Hanna claimed that the 1549 Prayer Book was taken into Council storage, and Nathan Reed, who removed the Baines’ paintings, also claimed that they would be taken into storage.  

32.        I believe that the contractors used by the Council in this unnecessary and, I believe, illegal operation were Bright’s Cleaning Services of King’s Lynn.

      [Exhibit RAE26, Invoice 3221 from King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council     to Robert Ecclestone, dated 14 September 2010]

33.        A director of Bright’s Cleaning Services is Marcus Anthony Mallett.

34.        From information I have received from Councillor Jean Mickleburgh, I understand that Marcus Anthony Mallett is a relation of David Clack, who has been seen driving Bright’s vehicles. I was also told that Marcus Mallett has a large e-bay account and often sells items on there.

35.        From information I have obtained, it is my belief that Bright’s contracted Glazewing (of Station Road, West Dereham) to deliver and take away skips throughout the week.

36.        However, on Saturday 14 February 2009, two contractors from Bright’s were in attendance, but on this occasion the skips were hired from A2B Skip Hire, Watkins Farm, 126, Main Road, West Winch, King's Lynn Norfolk PE33 0LQ.

37.        I spoke with the driver and explained that there were a lot of items in the skips which should not have been there.

38.        He gave me his mobile phone number and I gave it to Andrea Wood. I asked her to contact the driver and tell him not to dump the items at the tip.

39.        I then telephoned the police at Wymondham. The civilian worker, believed to be Ben Hanson, advised me to phone the social worker and explain it all and the social worker was provided with the driver’s mobile phone number with a view to retrieving the valuables.

      [Exhibit RAE27, Emergency Duty Team note re Robert Ecclestone, dated 15        February 2009]

40.        I heard nothing for several days, upon which I phoned the social worker. She told me that she phoned DC Duncan Rumbelow, based at Swaffham, but he said no, he could not retrieve the valuables.

41.        I later phoned the driver’s mobile number and spoke with him and he said nobody contacted him and he had to deliver it down to the tip and the “Ministry men” were at the tip.

42.        I believe this to have been John Greenhalgh and David Clack and/or others.

43.        DC 1398 Rumbelow later denied that he ever received a telephone call from Andrea Wood.

      [Exhibit RAE28, letter from DC 1398 Rumbelow to Robert Ecclestone dated 24   October 2011]

44.        On the day that the loft was emptied, a caseworker from Stonham Home Stay, Mrs Fran Woodbine, who was informed by Age Concern of our plight, visited my property. She saw the Prayer Book and said to the council workers that they had to give it to Violet, my mother. The council workers told Mrs Woodbine that they had instructions to clear the property and that they would take it into storage.