'Too much talking, not enough action': Coroner's withering verdict over death of vulnerable pensioner after 30 years of abuse. Also criticises 'staggering inertia and complacency' at local council.
A vulnerable 64-year-old man who collapsed and died after three decades of harassment was unlawfully killed, a coroner ruled yesterday.
David Askew, who had learning difficulties, was subjected to years of bullying by local youths who mocked him, threw eggs and bricks, and smashed his windows. He had gone outside to confront teenagers who had upset a wheelie bin and tampered with his elderly mother’s mobility scooter when he suffered a fatal heart attack. No-one has ever been prosecuted over his death, but yesterday coroner John Pollard said he had no doubt he had been unlawfully killed.
In a damning verdict on the years of torment suffered by the Askews, he said it showed how ‘feral youths can bring misery to a decent and vulnerable family’. Mr Pollard also criticised a culture of ‘staggering inertia and complacency’ at the local council and said he would also be writing to the police about the disturbing case.
Mr Askew had been bullied by three generations of locals on an estate in the Hattersley area of Greater Manchester, pestering him for money and cigarettes and kicking in the family’s front door.
During one two-month period he went to the offices of Tameside Council every day to complain about the yobs, while his mother called police 88 times to report the harassment. To read the rest of the article regarding this tragic case click here.
20 comments:
Another Tameside Council utter farrago caused by incompetents in positions of responsibility appointing other incompetents to non-jobs.
No-one will be sacked or held accountable however as this is the state sector. In particular it's a typical Labour dominated council with a moronic, spineless, apathetic electorate who just keep voting them back in whilst three quarters of the rest don't even bother to vote at all.
What a shambles of incompetence, mediocrity, corruption and cheating this area is becoming. No wonder they're incapable of sorting out major issues such as the inherent, long term serious problems at Tameside hospital.
Cobblers, we've got people of the calibre of John Taylor at the top...oh Jesus.
Tragic as this case is, it is unfair to condemn the council as there is nothing they could do within the existing legal framework to bring the ferral youths responsible under control.
So it would be better if an infirm man with learning disabilities could somehow learn how to construct improvised explosives, wait until his tormentors were asleep (presumably in the same location as the rest of their unaware families) and then what, kill them all?
Even ignoring your weaselly caveat, what else could you mean?
A plan worthy of that other wierdo who used to post on here about 'real life superheroes' or somesuch nonsense.
The police are bought and paid for, by new charter housing and Labour Mafia Councillors.
Don't ever forget that.
Labour Mafia here, have so much to gain having total control of the police.
@tobat
Then what is your solution to this problem?
As a "civilised"(sic) society we abandon the law of the jungle and taking the law into our own hands. In return we expect the state to protect us. But it did not in the case of Mr Askew. Thus we are "helpless"...... or reliant on ourselves.
Taken at face value your critical remarks are valid, but so is my underlying arguement. What DO you do when you are being attacked and the state authorities who should protect you do not?
16 weeks, what a joke, typical of this country. 16 weeks will be 16 days is our overcrowded penal system.
Why the removal of the post TonyDJ?
It was I who deleted the post from Tony DJ, while what he said was something most people who understood the torment suffered by David Askew would agree with, it could be interpreted by some in the wrong way and therefore I decided to delete it to prevent a flippant comment become a news story in its own right.
TonyDJ has never come across as the 'flippant' type.
On the contrary, he appears a principled chap, who would stand by what he has typed.
Would you approve of this type of censorship from the Wellington Road Massive?
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes...
The point I was making was that in the abscence of official protection we have the right to protect ourselves. Indeed this right is implicit in the Social Contract between rulers and ruled,we give up our right to defend ourselves in return for the Government defending us.
When the state is unwilling or unable to defend us it is they, the state, who have broken the contract, not us the people.
All this, however, is theory. I am a practical man. In my posting I gave directions as to how the theory could be turned into practical action by access to sites freely available on the internet.
Tameside Citizen exercised his editorial right to chose what appears on his blog (ie what HE is responcible for).I support his right.
Which brings us back to the original problem of what do we do in the absence of state response?
There used to be "Writs of Mandamus" (Now Mandatory Order) whereby you can apply to a court to ORDER the relevant state authority to do their duty.
Needless to say it costs!
I wonder why no one told the Askew family about this??
The point that tonydj is making is relevant to Life Policies.
Protection from the police.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha oh... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha oh... shit myself laughing.
RIP David.
So neither of you are any better than those whom you seek to condemn.
Thank you for the clarification gentlemen, but frankly, poor show.
Ah well, back to the comedy witterings of Hall and West, punctuated by the illiterate rantings of the easily persuaded.
tobat rat, tat, tat, this guy is a supporter of beating up young people and he's deputy Leader for God's sake.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5BPZOw7i3CE/R4v0_A0SQ8I/AAAAAAAAAX8/alxMgrNEM2s/s1600/john-taylor-justice.jpg
quod erat demonstrandum...
tobat what is you view on the deputy leader showing support for mob rule? punishment beatings and all that stuff?
Tobat, re 09:54 post, yes it would be infinitely better. If they were dead all the damage they're going to inflict on individuals and society in the next few decades would never happen.
The truth is there are now millions of pieces of semi-human dross walking about who should never have been born in the first place.
No person, no problem.
Yes, a community neighbourhood officer is out of their depth. Something we have been saying on this blog for some time. What is needed is tougher policing and tougher sentencing. None of this hug a hoodie bollocks which is preached by Cllr. Quinn and the Cameroons.
But wait a minute. Who was the police officer in Hattersley? Oh it was PC Susan Moss. Instead of acting on the Askew's, she saw fit to go around defending local Labour councillors instead on dodgy, made up allegations which were later dropped by the police. Oh yes, our local councillors are much more important aren't they?
See more here.
On another note, it isn't some lowly officer that should be in the dock. The people should be:
*Stephen Pleasant - How can the Chief Executive not know about numerous complaints from residents not going unnoticed. The council has a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System which tracks and records all this information. If an incident isn't resolved by a certain length of time, it becomes escalated.
*Stephanie Butterworth - Head of Adult Social Services. As above.
*Sandra Stewart - She ensures compliance at the council - again, spends most of her time defending Messrs Taylor and Doubleday. Out of her depth is often said about her from other senior council officers.
*John Taylor - Prior to becoming deputy leader, he was responsible over social services. He should hang his head in shame.
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