Council chucks veteran’s life in bin
A BUNGLING council gutted an RAF veteran’s home five days after he died and binned a lifetime’s memories – wrongly thinking he had no relatives.
Proud ex-Serviceman David Boad, 81, was found dead by police in the house where he had lived for over 70 years.
Officers found details of family members elsewhere in the country and alerted colleagues in another force.
But within a week the council property was given an “environmental clean” in which treasured family photos and heirlooms were chucked in a skip.
Yesterday Mr Boad’s niece Caroline Mountain, 48, slammed over-zealous council officials for throwing away his belongings even before his death certificate had been issued.
Precious
All Mrs Mountain received in a plastic bag was his watch and wallet, £120 in cash, a travel card, an expired bank card and a keyring. The only thing left in the ground-floor flat was a pot plant.
Mrs Mountain, whose naval veteran father John also lived at the property as a little boy, said: “When I saw the inside all bare and empty, my blood ran cold.
“They threw away extremely precious family memories and never even thought to put them into storage.”
Mrs Mountain and the rest of her family, including mother Margaret, 86, and husband Gary, 48, were left “devastated and absolutely disgusted”. She RAF veteran David Boad, pictured as a boy, lived at the same flat for over 70 years added: “My uncle served in the RAF, came from a family of veterans, and was so proud of his country. But his 81 years have been reduced to a plastic bag with a few meagre belongings in it.”
Neighbours raised the alarm on January 10 after failing to see the pensioner going about his usual business at his home in West Norwood, south London.
Metropolitan Police officers broke in and found him dead from what are thought to be heart complications.
They contacted colleagues in Lancashire after finding Margaret’s name on a Christmas card and an address book giving her contact details in Preston.
The family notified police that they were next of kin but Lambeth Council went ahead with the clearance anyway.
Mrs Mountain added: “The council have accepted liability and said they were wrong to clean it out so soon and have told me I can get compensation, but that isn’t the point.
“There is no compensation for irreplaceable family pictures we will simply never see again. The council made no checks and followed no legal protocol.”
Andrew Travers, interim chief executive of Lambeth Council, said: “We send our condolences to Mr Boad’s family.
“We mistakenly believed there were no next of kin, and apologise to relatives that further checks were not made. We have offered to meet the family and are reviewing procedures for the future.” DOGS and their owners both put on weight in the winter as bad weather means they are less likely to get out for regular walks, research has found.
The study also revealed that 56 per cent of owners admit their dogs get less exercise when the temperature drops due to their reluctance to venture outside.
One in six admitted they pray for grim weather so they have an excuse to avoid taking their dog for a stroll.
As a result, dog owners reckon their pet gets an hour less exercise every week compared with the summer.
Healthy
Sean McCormack, head vet at the dog nutrition company Tails.com, which commissioned the study, said: “Any dog which is living by a nutritious and healthy diet is going to remain as enthusiastic as ever about their daily walks, even as the temperature plummets and the heavens open.
“When this happens, it’s easy to slip into hibernation mode and curl up on the sofa but we want to encourage dog owners to don their thermals and pick up the lead – your dog will thank you for it.”
The study also found 36 per cent of owners have put off taking