Friends rally for Jennyfer Spencer - call for inquiry into death

Published: 6 May, 2010
by JOSH LOEB

FRIENDS of Jennyfer Spencer led a protest outside the Town Hall’s housing office on Tuesday to demand a public inquiry into her death.
Severely disabled Ms Spencer, 46, who was known as “Alex”, was found dead on the floor of her unadapted fifth-floor flat in Gospel Oak on March 1 – following a six-year battle with the Town Hall to be rehoused.
She had left a letter in her home saying she had been treated “like an animal” and urging the New Journal to ­investigate her case after her death, raising serious concerns about whether Camden ­Council had met its legal requirement to ­fulfil its duty of care.
Holding placards and handing out leaflets, the protesters used megaphones to call for ­”justice” for Ms Spencer. An inquest  into her death will take place next month.
Diana McCleary, an acquaintance of Ms Spencer, said: “The situation she found herself in shouldn’t happen. While this protest can’t bring her back, sometimes things happen in life which open our eyes. We hope this will help people in the same boat as her.”
Margaret Pryor, a friend of Ms Spencer, said: “I used to see Alex a lot in Camden Town. It was her village as well as mine.
“She was a very rewarding person intellectually to talk to.”
The protesters were supported by the ­Campaign against Care Charges and WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), as well as the Black Women’s Rape Action Project and the Afro-Caribbean CarAf Centre.