【每日邮报】D-Day hero, 93, starved himself to death after care home ……

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D-Day hero, 93, starved himself to death after care home 'refused to let him go home to wife'
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1192306/D-Day-hero-starved-death-care-home-refused-let-home-wife.html
By Andrew Levy    Last updated at 1:31 PM on 11th June 2009


Alfred Tonkin was transferred to a care home and was still there four months later when he was rushed to hospital suffering from dehydration and malnourishment

Mr Tonkin is seen here just after he joined the Army in 1933 aged 17



A former soldier who took part in the D-Day landings starved himself to death after being held against his will in a care home.

Alfred Tonkin, 93, went on hunger strike when he was prevented from being reunited with his wife of 68 years, Joyce.

The great-grandfather, who lost a leg to a Nazi machine gunner, was initially admitted to hospital with a blood disorder.

But when social services became involved in his case they declared he was suffering from dementia and insisted a round-the-clock care package would have to be arranged before he could return home.

He was transferred to a care home and was still there four months later when he was rushed to hospital suffering from dehydration and malnourishment.

Mr Tonkin died six days later on June 3 - 72 hours before the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

The Daily Mail's Dignity for the Elderly campaign has highlighted failings in the care system for pensioners.

Mr Tonkin's son, Ian, 60, claimed today his father had starved himself to death.

He said: 'It was a dreadful experience. My dad thought we had betrayed him but we were in social services' hands because they knew the rules and we didn't.

'The care he received at the hospital and care home was excellent but social services were useless.

'I think this was all about them hoping he'd die before they had to do anything to protect their budget rather than caring for a man who fought for his country.'

Mr Tonkin was 17 when he joined the Army in 1933 and served in the 52nd Battalion Royal Field Artillery in India and Palestine before World War II broke out in 1939.

He married his sweetheart Joyce, now 90, in 1941 while on leave from action in Egypt.

The private was posted back to Europe to take part in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and was one of only two survivors when his field gun crew was hit by a German shell.

He managed to join some Canadian soldiers and was fighting in the Falaise Pocket - the decisive battle of Normandy which raged from August 12-21 - when he was hit by a machine gunner and lost his right leg.

Afterwards, he became a printer in London and had two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

It was on December 6 last year that Mr Tonkin was taken ill at his home in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and admitted to Watford Hospital with a blood disorder.

He spent four weeks there before Hertfordshire County Council social services moved him to Wilton House Nursing Home in Shenley, six miles outside St Albans, while they arranged 24-hour-a-day home care.

On May 28, a GP wrote to social services to protest at the length of time it was taking for him to be reunited with his wife and recommend an immediate discharge.

She pointed out a psychiatric assessment in January had found Mr Tonkin was depressed in care and anxious to leave.

The letter went on to warn intense frustration over the delays had led to him refusing food.

Three days later Mr Tonkin was rushed back to Watford Hospital with renal failure but died after failing to respond to drips.

His son, who works for Royal Mail, added: 'My dad had no one to talk to in the home and he lost the will to live.

'He was only mildly forgetful and could take care of himself but withdrew into himself when surrounded by people with severe dementia.

'He told me once "If I could get to the window I'd jump out because I've had enough".

'The staff weren't able to force him to eat or drink while he was conscious as it was his decision. He was given a drip when he went back to hospital but it was too late by then.'

The family have now made an official complaint to Hertfordshire County Council's adult care services and are being backed by St Albans MP Anne Main.

She said: 'I am appalled that this gentleman who served his country suffered such an unacceptable delay in getting a care package set up for him at home and was subjected to such an undignified death.'

An adult care services spokeswoman said: 'Equipment and care services had been purchased and commissioned and we were in the process of putting them in place but sadly Mr Tomkin died before he could return home.'