Benefits axe man found at 5st starved to death
Bailiffs find body of tragic grandad
A GRANDFATHER was found starved to death and weighing less than five stone, eight months after his disability benefit was stopped.
The body of penniless Errol Graham, 57, was found by bailiffs after they broke into his 15th-storey council flat.
Vulnerable Errol, who had long-term mental health issues and lived alone, had just a couple of five-year-old tins of fish in his cupboard.
His daughter-in-law Alison Turner, 31, blames the Department for Work and Pensions for the tragedy.
She said: “He always plodded along as long as he got the financial support needed. The system failed him.”
The spiral towards Errol losing his benefits began in August 2017, when he did not attend a fit-for-work test for his Employment Support Allowance.
The DWP got no reply reminders and there were
MP Debbie Abrahams to two failed “safeguarding visits” to his Nottingham home in October. His ESA had ended a week earlier.
Errol’s housing benefit stopped as a result. In June 2018 bailiffs broke in.
An inquest into his death held in June 2019 came to light when his family spoke to the Disability News Service.
In a summary, assistant coroner Elizabeth Didcock talked of “missed opportunities” to help. She wrote: “The safety net that should surround vulnerable people like Errol had holes.”
She added: “I cannot say cessation of ESA led directly to his death. But the loss of all income, and threat of eviction, will have caused huge distress.” Labour MP Debbie Abrahams is demanding an urgent independent inquiry into the deaths of people whose benefits were stopped.
The DWP called Errol’s death “tragic”. It has referred it to a
Serious Case Panel.