Orphans forced to share gran’s sofa
THE grieving children of a mum who was found dead after going missing have been forced to sleep on their gran’s sofa for six months.
Margaret Wotherspoon, 59, says her grandkids have had “no room to grieve” after they were made homeless and left to move into her one-bedroom house in Bellshill last October.
Crystal, 16, and Georgia Ramsey, 15, became orphans when mum Lisa Wotherspoon, 37, died last year.
The single mum had vanished from her home in Motherwell on September 29. She was found dead a week later.
Her teenage children were then evicted from their family home and made homeless as the tenancy was in their mother’s name.
Lisa’s mum Margaret said the family were promised a three-bed property after she took her grandchildren in.
Margaret told the Record: “I feel abandoned. It’s been a nightmare.
“The three of us are crammed in here. We’ve had no room to grieve.
“The kids are sleeping on one sofa between them. They are waking up with sore backs, they can’t sleep properly and are missing a lot of school.”
The family’s lives turned upside down after Lisa went missing from her home on September 29. A type-1 diabetic, she was without her medication.
Footage was captured of her leaving her home on Vulcan Street about 6am. Her loved ones said Lisa was suffering with her mental health at the time.
Margaret said: “I knew something was seriously wrong when she went missing. She would always be in contact with me.
“She was found after a friend realised that her blood sugar monitor had a GPS signal, and police were able to find her from her last movements.”
The gran now fears their living situation will tear her family apart as she is struggling to cope.
Slamming North Lanarkshire Council, Margaret added: “I wasn’t expecting to be caring for two teenagers. I need help.
“The council has done nothing for us. I just feel like we’ve been thrown out to the dogs.”
North Lanarkshire Council said it was waiting for a suitable property to become available.
A spokesman for the local authority said: “We are supporting the tenant’s application for a three-bedroom property in the area where she has requested to live. However, the turnover of properties is very limited.”