Phone tycoon’s ex-partner joins our crusade to end care home abuse scandal
BBC police drama set for series seven
THE campaigning former partner of Phones4U billionaire John Caudwell has joined our “Antonia’s Law” fight to end care home abuse.
Former beauty queen Claire Johnson, 52, who has seen social care at first hand for two decades, has been inspired by Tony Stowell, 52.
He launched the Daily Expressbacked call for CCTV cameras in care home bedrooms after the death of his mum Antonia, 87.
He wants relatives to have the legal right to monitor loved ones, to protect their mental health, stop abuse and end poor treatment.
In Claire’s case, her mum Alma Worthington, 74, was struck down by a brain aneurysm when she was just 58. She is now in a wheelchair.
And although she is living in a “fabulous” nursing home, Claire has had concerns about previous homes.
She said: “There have been times my mother’s been in tears, left stuck in bed until the afternoon as there was nobody to get her up. She can be demanding but she has got short memory loss and she does press the buzzer a lot. But the number of times she rang me still in bed at 1pm because they hadn’t got round to her yet as she lay there in a wet pad, it really upset me.
“The home always had a good reply, saying they had other people to see to or she had pressed the buzzer 30 times that day.
“I understand but sometimes I felt they had given up on her.”
Claire explained that her mum had needed round-the-clock care in a nursing home for 16 years. She said: “Now she’s getting fabulous care. But we weren’t happy with one of the homes my mum was in and we moved her because I felt she was becoming a nuisance to them.” Claire agrees that Antonia’s Law would have made a huge difference and feels “nothing but compassion” for Tony.
She said: “I’m happy to give my support. I know how important it is to trust these care homes – particularly in the pandemic when you can’t always go into them.
“I realise a lot of them are understaffed, and care workers are overworked and underpaid – these challenges pose threats to patient care. But when you have family members not always lucid, it’s important to know they are safe and well.”
Claire was in a relationship with Mr Caudwell – one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers – for 13 years and the couple have a teenage son together.
They met at the Total Fitness gym in Stoke-on-Trent when she was a 32-year-old model and he was a 48-year-old divorced father of three.
Two years later Caudwell sold the Phones4U firm he set up in 1987 for £1.5billion. He and Claire split up in 2014, but John still chats to Alma when he can. Claire said: “He has a great relationship with her.”
More than two dozen MPs have already backed Tony’s Parliamentary Early Day Motion, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitting action must be taken.
Tony says had his mum had CCTV in her room when she fell ill with Covid, he could have spotted her health decline sooner.
Last year an independent study found 30 per cent of care home staff would welcome CCTV in both communal spaces and bedrooms.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Abuse, especially against vulnerable people in care, is abhorrent and we’re determined to stop it.”
‘When loved ones aren’t always lucid, it’s important to know they are safe’
FANS of Line Of Duty will be delighted to hear that the hit BBC drama will continue beyond the sixth series, which could be shown next month.
Writer Jed Mercurio also said there was the possibility of his other smash Bodyguard coming back for a second series.
Line Of Duty has proved a huge success with the last series pulling in 9.1 million viewers for the finale.
Jed said: “Season six proves there is much more ground for us still to cover. I really want to carry on with Line Of Duty
“I am in a fortunate position as a writer. To dream of getting to the point where people watch your work in such larger numbers and you get a little bit of name recognition as well.
“In terms of other projects, I think learnt a lot from the success of
I
Bodyguard. It really was heartening to see the way in which an audience would come to something that was completely fresh and original.
“So much content is an adaptation of something that was a book or a film, but Bodyguard was an original concept.
“The fact that we hit the ground running and people really got into the characters and stories made a huge impact on my ambition for doing more original series.
“I would love to do something within the next couple of years, if it isn’t Bodyguard 2 then it is something on the same scale as that.”
Series six of Line Of Duty finished filming last November. Kelly Macdonald joins the cast as Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson. The trio from anti-corruption unit AC-12 will also be on screen; Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and Steve Arnott (Martin Compston).
Speaking on the Out To Lunch Podcast, Jed said the cast are fuelled on set and bonded thanks to nights out eating curry.
He revealed: “We go for a curry like twice a week. It is the hardcore, Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar and I.
“We shot the first episode in Birmingham and that is the curry capital of the UK.
“There was a brilliant curry house next to our main set and the hotel we were staying in.
“We get on very well and we talk about the show.We get a lot of work done while we are hanging out.”
No release date has been confirmed for series six but insiders say a start date is highly likely next month.