FOUR DIE IN ARCTIC BLAST
A VULNERABLE pensioner and a homeless father of three froze to death in the coldest night of winter so far while two pedestrians died in collisions with trucks in freezing fog.
Britain experienced a fearsome overnight Arctic blast into yesterday morning as temperatures plummeted as low as -10C.
A frantic police search was launched after Helen Maider, 89, went missing from her home in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow.
Mrs Maider had “issues with her memory”. She was a regular walker but her family raised the alarm due to the temperatures.
She was last seen alive crossing a road at 6am but her body was found hours later.
In Wakefield, where the mercury fell to -4C, a 57-year-old Lithuanian known as “Elephant” was found dead inside a city centre tent.
Fellow rough sleeper David
Flowers, 47, told how Elephant had three grown-up children as well as parents back in Lithuania, where he had served in the army.
He said: “He was a popular fella and a lot of local people knew him.
“I know a woman had stolen a tarpaulin that covered his tent and used to keep it warmer. It was bitterly cold last night. He has been found in his tent. He’s thought to have died from hypothermia. He was a really, really good man.”
West Yorkshire Police confirmed a man’s body was found at Kirkgate just after 9.45am but said it was for a coroner to rule how he died. On the roads, a pedestrian was hit and thrown across the M4 between Langley and Slough, Berks, at about 3.45am. Police closed the motorway for almost six hours causing rushhour mayhem.
An hour later, another walker was knocked down and killed by an HGV on the A34 near Winchester, Hants. Crash investigators are now investigating whether the foggy conditions were to blame in both fatalities.
The “Arctic swell” blowing in from the North Pole saw temperatures at Braemar in Aberdeenshire fall to -9.9C. Nine of the 10 coldest temperatures recorded were in Scotland, with Redesdale Camp, Northumberland, chilliest in England at -7.1C.
Public Health England has asked people to check on the vulnerable, saying: “Older people and those with heart and lung problems are at risk of getting sick in cold weather.”
Met Office meteorologist Alex Burkill said: “The UK is sandwiched between two low-pressure systems which is allowing a northerly airflow. The jet stream is also south of the UK which is helping air to come in from this direction.”
Wet, milder weather is due tomorrow – but cool, dry conditions are expected to return at the start of December, the Met Office said.