In that case, alert the banks manager. They have a duty of care towards vulnerable customers, might be best to go in locally if possible and give them a copy of the POA mum has. Write down some of the major issues, and ask that as aunty is now in hospital, to stop all but essential expenditure, or freeze the accounts altogether.
New car!!!
This woman is getting incredibly cocky.
Neighbour just came in and asked why there was a strange man and woman in aunts house and said she heard the lady say to him “They have a key to that, we’ll have to get that changed” relating to the post box my father had built for my aunt which we don’t actually have a key to but just a strange thing to say. the post box has never actually been locked anyway the only reason there is a lock on there in the first place is because my father made it out of a electrical junction box which happens to have a key.
Just seems likey they’re trying to erase everything we have done for her over the years to make it look like we’ve had no involvement in her life or something. We have photos of us with my aunt from the past 20-30+ years even when we were babies so luckily they can’t erase every memory we have with her, Makes me want to cry when i see how depressed she looks when she’s staring over to our bungalow at 2-4am, my father says she looks like a lost puppy who’s missing her home.
And everyone we have called state that without Activated POA they can’t do anything at the begining of all of this before Christmas we called the bank and asked them to put a hold on all large withdrawals so they said without activated POA they can’t do anything other than monitor. Hopefully they kept their word but would not suprise me if they have cleaned her out,
Will drop an update once we’ve spoken to solicitor 
One of our members claimed money back from the bank for failing to protect her husband… No POA at the time.
Quick Update, Locksmiths van turned up ealier not sure what locks he changed due to the ladies van blocking our view to her door, a hour or so later a small car with two ladies parked in aunts driveway and proceeded to go inside while the lady was in aunts bungalow. ( Still unsure if aunt is home from hospital at this stage since hospital insist they cannot tell us anything. even refused to tell us if she was alive at one point ) Camera did not get a great view but saw the lady was present in her house when they arrived and that they proceeded inside with her, not sure if these were from social services / Adult safeguarding or what but they looked like they may have been. Sometimes camera in house doesn’t get a clear view of everything due to sun glare from windows etc
No call back from solicitor yet, must be busy due to all of the on-going coersion and elderly abuse going on around the world due to the pandemic that all of the news are warning us to look out for?
Another neighbour has also told us that they have fitted a new door bell sytem to her one and only door which has a camera on it and will enable the person who has access to the “App” to allow access to certain people.
I’ve actually been reading alot more about the signs of coercive control of the elderly and what to look out for,
- Signatures on cheques that do not resemble the person’s usual signature.
- Any sudden changes in bank accounts, including unexplained withdrawals of large sums of money.
- The sudden addition of names on the person’s bank accounts.
( This lady is apparently my aunts new “accountant” )
- Sudden changes to or an unexpected creation of a will.
( Mother found aunt changing her will with a lady who was supposed to be caring for her, with a new “straight” solicitor because old solicitor wanted a face-to-face meeting since she is 88 years old and had apprently previously told the solicitor this was the last time. )
- The sudden appearance of previously uninvolved relatives.
( Aunt began getting alot of Phone calls from her cousin who had lived in america for 30+ years, whome she had previously never been able to get contact with apart from the odd letter now and then. and she had previously told us that he had told her that if she didn’t give her property to him he would burn it down. I had even replaced my aunts old old computer which she had previously been good with but had forgotten how to use it with a high-end computer that i tried to make as easy as possible for her to use and had spent countless hours showing her how to use so she could email him as he said he would email her everyday if she fixed her emails which he emailed her maybe 10 times. )
- The unexplained sudden transfers of assets to a family member or someone outside the family.
- Numerous unpaid bills, overdue rent, care home bills etc when there is someone who is supposed to be paying the bills.
( Not sure if this would come under the same thing, but doctors have called us reporting aunt has missed multiple appointments
- Unusual concern by someone that an excessive amount of money is being expended on the care of the person. ( When my father had spoken to the people who fitted the CCTV around my aunts property they told him fitings like this generally costed upwards of £10,000 )
- Lack of amenities such as TV, personal grooming items etc that the person should be able to afford.
( Aunt wanted a walk in shower so she could wash herself as she was afraid of falling over in her bath which caused her to skip washing herself all together, and began washing with wet-wipes that she would flush down the toilet which had caused her pipes to get blocked, but never got one. we had to organize for them to come down and fix her pipes because she could not even flush her toilet at this point. I believe my parent seven had to pay for the drains to be unblocked.)
- The unexplained disappearance of funds or valuables.
( Aunt had previously told us she thought the neighbours husband had stolen £100 out of her house, she even raised concerns that this lady had used her card to buy her own shopping. and lady has been selling aunts items on eBay, we generally put her losing things down to the fact that she was old and it was not a huge deal.)
- Deliberate isolation of the person from friends/family resulting in the carer having total control.
( Has fitted cameras, fitted door locks to monitor who can visit and has told everyone that she was being abused by her family, multiple of her friends have contacted us saying they cannot get hold of aunt, they told my aunt she was not allowed to visit us due to the on-going pandemic even though we were her support bubble since we all rarely leave the house due to being at high risk due to on-going illnesses/ diseases), everytime we talk to her she seems to get punished by them the same day / next morning. and everytime someone albeit Police, Social services etc visit the lady always pops up )
Theres alot more but thought i’d save some for the Solicitor.
Not really sure what else we can do other than do the Police and Adult safeguardings job for them at this point.
This just gets worse and worse. It needs URGENT action.
It’s not just the money, it’s the principle.
How dare she change the locks. What authority? Presumably the locksmith had a sign written van? I’d contact them this afternoon, and Social Services, and demand immediate action.
Even if the POA isn’t activated, it clearly shows aunts clearest possible instruction about who she wants to manage her affairs if she isn’t able to. As such, it should be respected by all concerned.
Took a photo of the lock-smiths van and Social services are being useless, last month when my mother had called they stated they had called aunt on the phone to investigate and had closed the case, my mother asked them to put the reason in an email so we have the reason in writing when they replied we’d have to email them requesting this and they would send it, we followed their instructions and still no email back regarding this, mother called up today and they stated they could not discuss with mother as she was not on aunts list of contacts. So mother went from Lasting POA and next of kin to “Not on the list of contacts” over the span of 5 months.
Not being funny but since when is calling someone an investigation?
And believe it or not this is the second time this lady has changed the locks, Not really sure why since none of us have been close to aunts door since they fitted cameras apart from one day ages ago when she called my father over. Cloest we have been is our side of the fence talking over the obstacles they have placed in the way to prevent her to come over, which the lady states are to “prevent” her horses getting out which firstly she shouldn’t be using my aunts property and stables for her horses, and secondly a plastic bin would not stop a horse, and thirdly i don’t even think a horse would fit through the gap. and even funnier down the bottom of our properties there is no fence at all as we have always been a close family and never saw a need to get one fitted. everytime we have any form of communication with her it’s as if she gets punished and we have to listen to it through the fence, neighbours have even heard this lady shouting at her.
A neighbour has also just sent mother a video of the ladies dogs running around on our property, and another neighbour told us she saw the lady last night in aunts house with approx 6 dogs, her husband and her severly disabled daughter. neighbour has told us she has called to report multiple times, all to no avail.
At this point we’re wondering if they have accused us of something so bad that everyone would ignore us and believe we are the bad people and take their words over us, multiple concerned neighbours and aunts close friends then why are we not being investigated or sitting in prison cells?
Father still thinks it’s because the lady is a “trained special” who has contacts in social services due to her on-going relationships with them trhough her serverly disabled daugher, and her husband is a “traffic officer” from what my aunt had told us previously her husband did not want people to know he was “Police”, we actually have a recording of this conversation from over Christmas a week or so after she changed her will. but still no one to listen to it, I have reasearched and found he is actually a traffic officer.
Another quick Update, ambulance outside aunts bungalow believe they are dropping her home,which reinforces our suspicions that the lady and her husband had been going through aunts home while she was still at hospital. 
Hello, Ralph. Checking on a point of detail:
. . . At this point my aunt began to worry so she asked us to get the locks changed, so we did. The next thing we know the neighbor had fitted new locks. . .
How did this happen? I would expect that a locksmith - if asked to break into a house to which the client had not the proper key - and then asked to immediately change the locks - would be suspicious to say the least. I note the locksmith has visited again and you got his details - good; keep this as evidence.
The prime duty of the police is to prevent crime. They have little involvement in civil matters. Fraud is a crime, but it sounds as though your neighbour has manipulated your aunt into questionable legal agreements, thereby side-stepping the criminal element. There is probably no point in trying to pursue this with the police at this stage. I am no legal expert, and this needs a solicitor to sort out, and I note that you now have engaged one - also good.
Get your solicitor to help to change her will again, hence revoking the previous one that she made under duress. He could also write to your aunt’s bank, warning against suspicious transactions, and negotiate with Social Services about a re-assessment. A solicitor’s letter will carry more weight than your direct approach.
Then there is the question of access to your aunt’s house to sort out. It is not right that you have been effectively locked out of a relative’s house by a non-relative. You also need an order for the offending vehicles to be removed.
This is not going to be easy, and it may well go to a court, but a good solicitor should be able to turn this unsatisfactory situation around. Do keep in touch with progress updates.
Getting a vehicle moved is really simple.
Every Saturday it’s Market Day where I live. Holidaymakers who leave their cars overnight will not find them in the morning. They will be jacked up onto “dollies” and removed by a recovery company!
I would start getting mean and provoking confrontation in this case, to get the issue sorted immediately.
Perhaps I should have said “Call her bluff” rather than getting mean, but in reality there is very little difference.
Incidentally, Ralph, was the neighbour paid to be your aunt’s prime carer?
Has aunt moved back in again?
How are things?
This needs to be sorted out. Dementia needs to be diagnosed by a member of the medical profession. An off-the-cuff comment by a police officer counts as nothing. You need to ask your solicitor to chase this up. What does your aunt’s GP have to say about this, anyway?
Sorry for lack of replies, Been extremely busy,
Been informed by Office of the Public Guardian that Power of attorney is activated already ( Apparently it was activated by my aunt in 2017 ), so not sure why Police told us it was not activated and where they got their information from. Office of the Public Guardian also told us to, Get Papers from the Solicitor and take them to the Police Station and request for them to assist us in telling this lady to leave Aunt’s property, Called them they agreed to send someone at 6pm, at 3:29pm received a call from a very rude Police Constable who said they refused to send anyone. every call with the Police has been recorded as advised by the MP. When we took the Certified POA copies to the Police station they refused to acknowledge them and even tried to refuse the USB stick with the evidence on which was requested by the Officer dealing with the case. Since when do the Police refuse to take evidence?
Since last update, this lady has put a 7ft wooden wall up which does not even cover the entire boundary. It literally just blocks our view. Neighbours and ourselves have reported to the Police when we heard this lady shouting at my aunt Police refuse to take this case seriously.
Have also dropped the POA copies into Social Services office as they had told my mother over the phone that they had it on record not to tell us anything regarding my aunt.
Once everything is complete I will disclose more information regarding this and if anyone has similar problems please do not hesitate to ask myself for advice if needed. Just please remember if you have loved ones who are elderly, POA is always a good option. and if you suspect Coercion or anything similar record conversations with them to protect yourselves.
Without the POA and recordings my aunt’s life would most likely be doomed. Atleast now we have hope ( We actually went over to her house yesterday as advised for a “wellfare check” and she told us through the window that she could not open the door and proceeded to try to talk to us through the window ) atleast it does not seem they have made her hate us even through they have tried.
Even with the POA it is still a nightmare dealing with the Police, we believe this is because the ladies husband is a Police officer or just huge neglect from the Police. ( I even sent the Police a video of this lady climbing through my aunts window after my aunt had refused access, which also shows her “Police Officer” husband looking through her post box. ) Either is just as bad as the other. But atleast we are not completely powerless. Police have still not asked Aunt’s solicitor why she would not do the new will nor have they contacted the friends of my aunts who have been reporting to us they could not get hold of my aunt on the phone. One of her friends even told us that she had to call “the abuser” to get hold of my aunt.
Police continue to tell us that there is no proof of coercion. Even though they have only sent officers down twice. One of which from their own report she told the Police that she did not trust the abuser ( who had full control over her tablets ) and no longer wanted to speak to her. The next time they came down they spoke to my aunt in front of this woman ( We caught it on cctv ), they denied doing this. Solicitors still on hold but I’m sure will be called upon soon enough.
One bit of good news we have received is Office of the Public guardian have told us that anything signed after the power of atttorney was activated is fraudulent as is any large amounts of money that have been spent since we reported this…
Thank you everyone for all your support,
This needs to be sorted out. Dementia needs to be diagnosed by a member of the medical profession. An off-the-cuff comment by a police officer counts as nothing. You need to ask your solicitor to chase this up. What does your aunt’s GP have to say about this, anyway?
GP had made no less than 3 referals to the memory clinic for my aunt last year in-which they continued to call my aunt rather than my mother where she would tell them “I have no memory problems” even after GP had put a note for them to call my mother instead. She even booked another one but in the meanwhile my aunt developed a lump on her leg which we had to get the hospital to remove before it became cancerous so the memory clinic took at back seat. and then this happened. I imagine aunt’s GP (for most of her life) believed she must have needed the memory clinic or they would not have been adamant to get her an appointment. Police nor Social services have even tried to contact GP and GP has even told us they had also made a referal / raised a concern to Social Services.
If you saw half of the comments these police have put on the Police reports and the ones they have said to us on the phone you would be disgusted.
Not to our knowledge but this lady had been all through my aunts banking details and had sorted her “Income Tax” so would not be suprised if she had decided to reward herself with Aunt’s money.
They have closed the case on no less than 4 occasions.And are adamant that there is not enough evidence even though they had not even listened to the recordings nor visited since the first two visits almost 4 months ago.
The Police could not even “investigate” my mothers date of birth properly and have put it completely wrong all over the paperwork. We have never been in trouble with the Police ever. And always wondered why people did not show Police respect, now we know.
All we have ever asked for was for someone to safeguard my aunt. That’s not too much to ask for surely?
I think it’s time you spoke directly to the person responsible for the Police, who is elected. It is now so clear that because the wrong doer is related to someone in the force there is bias against you. However, he is surely going to lose his job, as he has continually turned a blind eye, and probably benefiting himself from his wife’s actions? If Social Services are not taking action, you could talk to your local County Councillor. It’s almost unbelievable that this is still unresolved. The stress caused must be off the scale. There is also Action Against Elder Abuse.
Hello again, Ralph. I am glad that the Office of Public Guardian has positive news for you.
As I said earlier, this is largely a civil matter, with which the police would not get involved. Since the police seem reluctant to deal with the criminal element, you are considering raising a complaint.
Do you not think it is time to call in your solicitor? A formal complaint to the police will carry much more weight coming from a solicitor, who will know the best way to present your case in legal terms.
When there is an allegation of financial abuse of a vulnerable adult in Hampshire, the Police are one of the investigators.
I just don’t see why they are dragging their feet in this matter.
As I said, We contacted the MPs office and were told this is definitely a crime, which is the only reason the Police re-opened the case. Since this the Inspecter we are coresponding with has told me that there may not be enough evidence to proove coercion which reinforces it is indeed a crime this was before he had even heard the recordings. Matters like this cannot be classed as civil as they would not stay civil for very long. Which Is probably why in 2015 they changed the law on coercive control making it a criminal offence with a penalty of upto 5 years. As was exercised not so long ago when a carehome owner was found to have been coercing residents into signing their property/items over to him. I believe he received consecutive 5 year sentences for each resident.
Believe this was the case regarding the carehome owner and his accomplice Southport care home boss jailed for £4m fraud - BBC News
We have also been told by Office of the Public guardian that any legal documents signed since 2017 are fraudulent so that’s another thing the Police can investigate.I have sent the Police videos of this lady climbing through my aunt’s window (B&E) while her husband looking through her letter box etc I didn’t know the Police had authority to look through peoples letter boxes while they were off-duty.
This has evolved far beyond coercion at this point, Police came down today and even with the Certified Lasting Power of attorney they said “We don’t deal with power of attorney much so don’t know how it works” and refused to tell the lady to leave.all of the while this lady was telling the Police my mother has mental health problems and that she should go home and mind her own business. My aunt made it my mothers business when she asked her to become her power of attorney. which was witnessed by the solicitor she had known for a very long time, and had been with that company for over 40 years. I have had to almost beg the inspector for months to just call this solicitor to ask why she would not put her legal reputation on the line without seeing my aunt to access her mental capacity as it seemed asif she was reading from a script and everytime the solicitor would ask something off the script she did not know what to say. The solicitor has since (now we have the POA) told us that she only spoke to my aunt once and the first time she was called it was the Abuser requesting the deeds to my aunts property. Shortly after requesting to see my aunt she received a typed signed letter telling her that she was no longer my aunts solicitor. How can the Police not have atleast called this lady to request details to help towards their investigation?
Everything is recorded all interactions with the Police, all of the extreme rudeness on the Phone will be reported and sent so it looks promising. Maybe we can actually get some Police who care about the people they are supposed to be serving and protecting after all.
This lady also told the Police that the LPOA had been revoked 4 days prior as she had reported it to OPG which we had called them 2 days prior and had even received an email from them that day with instructions on how to get the Police to help. But also if the LPOA had been revoked myself and my brother would be contacted as she requested us to be her backup LPOA’s.And LPOA cannot be revoked until an investigation has been carried out.
So this lady continues to lie to the Police over and over and they just take her word for it jump in their little cars and drive off, Is it because her husband is police? Since the LPOA is now activated OPG told us to change the CCTV to direct it to our house and get the solicitor to write to these abusers telling them to cease contact.
So it’s all looking fairly promising but everytime it looks like something is getting done to safeguard my aunt another rabbit falls out of the hat.
We’re In the middle of communicating with Solicitors now but the matter is my aunt still is not being safeguarded.
Hope you’re all staying safe and hopefully will have some more good news soon.