ROOF Blog

An elderly couple were allowed to die in their freezing home after neighbours’ pleas to authorities for help were ignored, it has been claimed. Jean and Derek Randall were found dead in their home in Northampton by police as Britain was gripped by the coldest winter in 30 years. Sally Keeble, the pensioners’ MP, has now called for an inquiry claiming ‘major failures’ led to the couple being neglected by care workers. Mr Randall, 76, had been trying to get his wife, 79, into a care home after realising that his own flagging health left him incapable of caring for her. Neighbours claimed they repeatedly contacted the county council, NHS staff and charities for over a month about the couple’s plight, but their warnings were allegedly never acted on. Northamptonshire County Council said it was investigating.

Shelter has been investigating sale and rent back companies who take out adverts in national and regional newspapers to check whether the companies that are advertising are signed up to the FSA’s tough new regulations. Results show that out of the 18 main companies that advertise regularly in the press, four are still not signed up to the regulation and are therefore operating illegally. Kay Boycott, Shelter’s director of policy and campaigns, said: ‘We are shocked to discover some rogue and unregulated companies have the nerve to advertise in national newspapers when they are operating completely outside of the law. If almost a quarter of the big firms who are advertising in national newspapers are unregulated, then it is highly likely that many more of the smaller companies are operating completely under the radar.’