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.

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.

Violet Ecclestone, part 3

1.       The other Notice was issued under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, section 4, in relation to the garden.

2.       I then went to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau with my mother and father to investigate these Acts.

3.       A man in the CAB read the small print and said that there was a right of Appeal to the Magistrates’ Court, but that it must be achieved within 21 days.

4.      He said that we had a right of Appeal because he looked up the law and said that the Council Notices had been issued wrongly. He said that the Council had got things mixed up and that both Notices were invalid, thus giving us a right of appeal.

5.      The right of Appeal under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 lies within section 290 of the Public Health Act 1936. This is because removal of cars is regarded as constructional works.

6.       The right of Appeal under the Public Health Act section 83 lies within the Public Health Act 1936, section 300, sub-section 1(b) for inconsistencies to be determined in the Magistrates’ Court. Inconsistencies involved a mix-up between items in the house and items in the garden and works involving removal of only “unnecessary items” which is not only legally unspecific but out of context with section 83 in which the word “remove” is not mentioned, but only cleaning of interior surfaces.

7.       The Court regards the making of a complaint to be the bringing of the Appeal.

8.       We went to the King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court and filled in the appropriate forms.

9.      A few days later, on 24 July 2007, we received letters from the Court confirming that both Notices were to be appealed.

      [Exhibit RAE3, letters from the Court dated 24 July 2007]

10. In August 2007 the manager of Norfolk County Council social services at Downham Market came to visit us at Spire View. I believe his name was Ian Pullen. He warned me that “they” were going to empty our house. He advised me to hide all valuables away and suggested that we hide them in the loft. We took his advice, the prayer book and paintings were put in the loft, but they were still taken. Negative statements were later made about this by the Chief Executive of the Council. Ian Pullen is now retired but Norfolk County Council cannot supply his address because they claim it would breach the Data Protection Act 1998.

[Exhibit RAE4, letter from Chief Executive of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, dated 06 July 2009]

11.  On 02 August 2007 we made a preliminary appearance at King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court.

12.  The Appeal for the Public Health Act Notice was allowed on 30 August 2007 at the King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court.

      [Exhibit RAE5, Letter from King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court, dated 09 January 2008]

13.  The Court allowed our Appeal. The Council did not contest our Appeal being allowed at the time.

14.  The matter regarding the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act notice appeal was adjourned until 03 October 2007.

      [Exhibit RAE6, Court Register from King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court dated 05     October 2012]

15.  The Appeal was allowed subject to the removal of cars and car parts from the front garden of the property.

16.  The cars were removed from the garden by December 2007 and the matter should have been complete.

17.  However, the Council – in a letter dated 11 January 2008 – put in writing that they had seen that the cars had been removed from the driveway.

      [Exhibit RAE7, Letter from Philippa Smith, Senior Environmental Health Officer,          King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, dated 11 January 2008]

18.  They said that they still wanted to see inside the house even though the Notice issued under the Public Health Act had been revoked.

19.  Initially we denied them entry, but they returned later the same day saying that we had to give them right of entry or we would be prosecuted.

20.  We therefore felt that we had been bullied into allowing them entry.

21.  The council officers, whom I believe were Philippa Smith and one other officer, came into my property and said that I had not complied with the Public Health Act because I had not emptied the house.

22.  I told them that that was not a requirement of the Court.

23. They went away and the next thing I knew the Council sent a letter on 28 February 2008 stating that they had had a meeting and it was agreed at the meeting that they would clear both our house and our garden.

      [Exhibit RAE8, letter from Philippa Smith, Senior Environmental Health Officer,           dated 28 February 2008]

24.  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. 

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

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

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

28. 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]

29. 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]

30.  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.

31.  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.

32.  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.

33.  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.

34.  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.”

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

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

37.  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.

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

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

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

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

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

43.        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.

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

45.        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.

46.        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.

47.         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.

48.        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.

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

50.         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.

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