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Published: 8 April 2010
by TOM FOOT

CANDLES were lit on Saturday for a “neglected” disabled woman who died after leaving a note addressed to the New Journal pleading for her case to be investigated.

Friends, family and disability rights campaigners recalled fond memories of Jennyfer Spencer, known locally as Alex, at a vigil for her on Gordon House Road on the Waxham Estate where she lived. The 46-year-old was found dead in her fifth-floor flat on March 1.

Ms Spencer’s death, one year after her care benefit payments were stopped, has led to calls for a public inquiry since the New Journal first reported the case two weeks ago.

Police are investigating cash withdrawals made from her bank account in the weeks after her death. It is understood they are also reading through Ms Spencer’s personal letters which raise concerns about her care.

Androulla “Angie” Angeli, 53, grew up with Ms Spencer when she was a pupil of Starcross, now Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, secondary school in Islington.

“She was a shy school girl – quite withdrawn as a teenager,” said Ms Angeli. “It was only in her early 20s that she came into herself and became a real jovial personality. I used to go out with her to the supermarket and everyone would be saying hello to her. She was the sort of person who would try and solve everyone’s problems.

“It breaks my heart to be talking about her in a past context. Nobody should have gone through what she did. She wasn’t found for a week after she died. I mean, where are we living? The system needs to be sorted out.”

Ms Spencer was confined to a wheelchair following a double stroke in 2003. 

She had applied for a ground-floor council home and consulted lawyers after her social care plan was stopped following a review.

Camden Council insist they did everything within their power to help Ms Spencer, adding she had “a history of refusing to engage with social care services and the housing services despite ongoing attempts to provide her with support”. But in a letter to the New Journal written before her death, Ms Spencer said: “No human/ animal should have gone through life as I did.”

The New Journal went to Ms Spencer’s flat on Tuesday and found fire-scorched ceilings, bundles of clothes and an overpowering stench.

The wheelchair she spent the majority of her time in remains in the front room surrounded by religious paintings and old church pews.

The cause of Ms Spencer’s death has yet to be established.

Clare Glassman, from the disabled group Winvisible, said: “People want to know how she was left without help and the rehousing as well. 

“We want a public inquiry.”

On the estate where Ms Spencer lived for seven years, frustration is growing with the council’s apparently blasé attitude to clearing her flat. 

On Tuesday, housing officials warned neighbours, who spent the Easter weekend moving Ms Spencer’s belongings out of her home and cleaning the flat, to put everything back again.

Residents say it took  environmental officers  three weeks to clear up the property, despite repeated complaints, and now a strong odour has returned to the floor where she lived.

Ms Spencer’s aunt Vicky Jarpaul said: “What more did Alex need to prove for Camden housing authority to consider providing adequate or even basic conditions to improve the quality of her life? 

“There are other questions to be answered. Who decided that Alex was spending her money inappropriately and she didn’t need a 24-hour carer? How do they know what Alex’s needs were?”

The coroner will not release Ms Spencer’s body for burial while police investigations are ongoing.

‘Her decisions’ – Tragic Alex ‘refused help offers’

Statement from Jim Wintour, Camden Council’s director of housing and adult social care:

“The Council has been greatly saddened by the death of Jennyfer Spencer, and the outpouring of sympathy and support from her neighbours and friends is testament to how well loved she was within her community. When a vulnerable member of society dies suddenly it is right that questions are asked and we will want to learn from this tragedy.

“However, the misleading and sensationalist reporting of your newspaper is not an accurate representation of the support and help offered to her by the Council.

“Ms Spencer met the eligibility for social care criteria, and we tried to provide her with the care she needed. Initially, we paid Ms Spencer direct payments, where people with additional care needs are given the money to pay for and choose the care they need. The payments are not meant to supplement income, but they are meant to support independent living. However, in this case Ms Spencer did not spend the money to buy the care she required, indeed, she did not spend the money at all. So a decision was taken to stop the direct payments, not because we assessed her as no longer ‘high risk’, but because she was not spending the money.

“To ensure her care needs were met, arrangements were made to provide care services directly and we arranged for care services to commence.

“Each time carers attended Ms Spencer’s flat they were refused entry. Ms Spencer was referred to our mental health service for an assessment but she did not attend the two appointments offered. She was not felt to be appropriate for statutory intervention and she did not lack capacity to make informed decisions about her care.

“Ms Spencer asked for a ground-floor two-bedroomed council flat. Five times we offered Ms Spencer such accommodation. Five times Ms Spencer refused. Again, we had no legal powers to force Ms Spencer to accept our offers of more suitable accommodation. The decision to move was hers, and hers alone and we had to respect her decision.

“Far from being left on her own the Council repeatedly tried to persuade Ms Spencer to receive help. We care about our vulnerable residents and want to provide appropriate support, but we have to balance this with their own freedom and right to make choices.”