Daughter Arrested After Taking 97-Year-Old Mother From Care Home

A care home resident talks with a caregiver outside a care home in Scunthorpe, northern England on May 4, 2020. (Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images)

The 73-year-old daughter of a 97-year-old lady suffering from dementia was arrested on Tuesday after taking her mother from a care home where she had not been able to properly visit her for nine months during CCP virus restrictions.

On Wednesday, reportedly, Tina Thornborough, 97, was taken from Northgate House the care home she lives in near York by her daughter, 73 -year old Ylenia Angeli, a retired nurse following a “last window visit before lockdown.”

Angeli’s daughter, 41-year-old Leandra Ashton, told the Telegraph that in an unplanned action her mother took her grandmother from the care home after becoming upset and pushing past a care worker who had said she could not go in. The care worker then “started accusing my mum of assault” Ashton said.

The family then left taking their elderly relative with them.

Police later arrested Angeli and took her mother back to the care home.

Ashton filmed the incident, which was posted on social media.

In the video, she told her grandmother “I love you and we are going to fight for you.”

A woman laughs as she speaks with her grandad during a drive-through visit at a residential care home near Banbury, west of London on May 28, 2020. (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)

Interviewed on talkRadio, Ashton said the family had tried to “go down every official channel” and raised a safeguarding issue (pdf) after noticing a deterioration in her grandmother during lockdown.

She explained that her grandmother had been deprived, due to restrictions, of daily visits from Angeli. The visits were to manage the lengthy feeding times needed by her grandmother requiring a family member to “be there as regularly as possible” she said. The care home setting, she said, was “just not adequate” to meet that need.

When the visits stopped the effect on both her mother and grandmother was “horrific to see,” Ashton said.

‘Separating Families’

“The fact that there are rules in place that are separating families, rules that are purporting to protect and to save lives, I find disgusting,” she added.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Noble of Humberside police said in a statement that the decision to “briefly restrain” Angeli had been made in the interests of everyone’s safety and until the situation was “calm and under control.”

After carrying out a legal duty to return the “frail and vulnerable” elderly lady to the care home he said Angeli was “immediately unrestrained, de-arrested and allowed to return home with her daughter.”

He said the incident had affected officers as well as the family.

“We understand that this is an emotional and difficult situation for all those involved.  We sympathise with all families who are in this position and will continue to provide whatever support we can to both parties,” he said.

The incident comes amid concerns from campaigners over the restrictions on care home visits amid the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

John’s Campaign, which advocates for the rights of those with dementia, on Oct. 28 filed urgent court proceedings against the UK’s Department of Health over guidance which they say unlawfully encourages blanket bans on family visits in higher risk areas.

‘Rapid Deterioration’

They argue that suspending visits has a medical impact, particularly on the 70 percent of care home residents who have dementia, “with many suffering a rapid deterioration of their symptoms, and premature death.”

Julia Jones of Johns Campaign told The Epoch Times that “it shows the degree of desperation and tension that the families are feeling and it seems a very extraordinary situation.”

She said she was aware that there is often a “complicated network of legislation” affecting people living in care homes.

“Normally speaking, she said, it would be nice to think that it was there to protect the rights of the person and their family,” she said.

“But it doesn’t seem to have worked awfully well in this case,” she added.

Commenting on the police involvement Jones said “I think the family themselves are saying that they don’t have any grudge against the police, that the police were in a difficult situation and handled it in a courteous manner.”

The excess death rate among dementia patients rose by a half during lockdown, according to John’s Campaign. That increase of 5,404 is the largest in non-COVID deaths for any condition.

When contacted by The Epoch Times, Northgate House care home declined to comment.

Simon Veazey contributed to this report