‘Our boy was put through hell’
SINGER Jay Aston has urged Sunday Express readers to check their neighbourhood for ash trees showing signs of the killer dieback disease.
The caring star, who won the Eurovision Song Contest with Bucks Fizz in 1981, made her plea after 50 trees on her land were devastated by the disease.
Jay, 58, now hopes to raise awareness of the impact it is having on the environment.
Experts say the fungal disease has ripped through Europe’s ash trees, with 70 million in the UK expected to perish over the coming years, costing the economy £15billion. Jay told us:
“If you have an ash in your garden or on your street, you need to check it. I had three diseased trees about four years ago. Now I have 50 at least.”
Signs of the disease include the leaves going a white-ish colour before developing a black mould.
The tree then begins to get sparse from the top down and ultimately can fall over.this can take up to six years.
Jay, who underwent successful surgery for mouth cancer in June 2018, will now replace the trees she had to cut down next to her home intatsfield, nearwesterham
AN AUTISTIC teenager who spent three years in and out of hospital and secure units – including a jail cell – killed himself after “being put through hell”, his family claim.
Jacob Bates, 17, had committed no crime. But his mother says her “innocent little boy” was treated like a criminal simply because he was a danger to himself.
He was moved around the country and at one point placed in a unit almost 100 miles away from his home in Chesterfield, Derbys.
In 2017 he was found a place at a care home in the town, but no assessment was made of its suitability and staff had no experience of dealing with his needs. Weeks in Kent. She said: “I’m going to set up a Christmas tree farm. It is important to try to give something back to the environment.”
The married mother-of-one, who sold 15 million records in the 1980s and stood as a candidate for the Brexit Party last week, is hoping that a dieback cure can be found.
Last month scientists revealed that a strain of dieback-resilient trees could be developed.
The study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, has identified the genes that give trees resistance.
Jay, on tour with her band
The Fizz, also featuring Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan, both 65, added: “We need to develop those resilient ash trees or plant another kind. It is all about rebalancing the environment.”
He was treated like a criminal. For three months he was placed in a boys’ prison by social care.
“Not for any crime, simply for being a danger to himself.
“My innocent little autistic boy was ripped from his family, institutionalised and had his childhood stolen. His illness went from bad to worse to shocking.
“I have to spend every day living with the guilt of letting professionals make stupid decisions and putting my child through hell.
“No one wants the responsibility of the risk involved so it is given to a hospital where they are given endless amounts of medication.”
Coroner Peter Nieto, said: “Emma House was clearly not suitable for Jacob.”verdict: Suicide.