Care Bill 2013
Committee Stage, House of Lords
Case studies in support of amendment to introduce a
power of access in specified circumstances
Date: July 2013
For more information, please contact:
Parliamentary lead: Quinn Roache, 0161 829 8647
Quinn.Roache@equalityhumanrights.com
Policy lead: Nony Ardill, 020 7832 785
Nony.Ardill@equalityhumanrights.com
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Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................ 2
Case Study 1 – Steven Hoskin .............................................................. 2
Case Study 2 – Michael Gilbert .............................................................. 3
The Commission’s analysis .................................................................... 3
About the Equality and Human Rights Commission .............................. 4
The Case studies below should be read in conjunction with the
Commission’s briefing in support of amendment to introduce a power of
access in specified circumstances.
The briefing can be downloaded from our website at:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/briefings/care_bill_b
riefing_on_power_to_enter_13_07_17_-_final.docx
1
Introduction
The Commissions’ Disability Harassment Inquiry1 found that abuse and
neglect of disabled people sometimes takes place in their own homes
and is sometimes carried out by people living with or visiting the victim.
Our inquiry examined ten cases of very serious abuse where disabled
people died or were seriously injured. Several of these cases involved
the victim being abused by people they were living with. These cases
suggest that if the local authority had tried to intervene in some of these
cases it is likely that the abuse perpetrators would have denied access
to the suspected victim in the absence of a legal power of entry.
Case Study 1 - Steven Hoskin2
In July 2006, Steven Hoskin was found dead at the bottom of a 100-foot
railway viaduct in St Austell, Cornwall. He had been tortured for hours
before his death, suffering various injuries inflicted upon him by a
number of perpetrators. He had been tied up, dragged round by a lead,
imprisoned, burnt with cigarettes, humiliated and repeatedly violently
abused in his own home over a period of time. He had been forced to
make a false confession that he was a paedophile and coerced into
taking a lethal dose of paracetamol tablets. Finally he was taken to the
viaduct and forced over the railings before one of the perpetrators
stamped on his fingers until he let go.
Steven was a 38-year-old man with learning disabilities. His murder was
the culmination of ongoing abuse. Five people were involved on the
night of his death. The ringleader was Darren Stewart, 29, who had
moved into Steven’s flat along with his girlfriend.
Steven’s death followed a series of abusive incidents occurring over a
period of months that a number of agencies, including police, health
services, housing and social services, had been alerted to at some
stage. Opportunities to intervene to halt the abuse were missed.
1
EHRC (2012) Hidden in plain sight. Inquiry into disability-related harassment. Manchester: Equality and
Human Rights Commission. Page 39
2
EHRC (2012) Hidden in plain sight. Inquiry into disability-related harassment. Manchester: Equality and
Human Rights Commission. Page 82
2
Case Study 2 - Michael Gilbert3
On 10 May 2009, Michael Gilbert’s headless, dismembered body was
found in the Blue Lagoon at Arlesey, near Luton. He was 26 years old
and there is evidence that he had an undiagnosed mental health issue.
Almost a year later, in April 2010, six people were jailed for involvement
in his murder – three of murder and three of familial homicide. The
ringleader was James Watt, who had met Michael when they were both
in care as teenagers.
Michael had lived with the Watt family for much of the seven years prior
to his murder. He was kept as a domestic slave and tortured over much
of that period. He was beaten on many occasions, punched and
stamped on, stabbed with a knife, shot with an air pellet gun and had
snooker balls dropped on his testicles. In the weeks before his death a
piece of wood was put in his mouth on which James Watt would do
pushups and his stomach was repeatedly jumped on.
Michael attempted to escape the Watt family on a number of occasions,
trying to find safety both within Luton and further afield in Norfolk,
Cambridge and Lancashire. On each occasion he was tracked down by
the Watt family, taken back to their home and beaten. A number of these
abductions were reported to the police but none of them resulted in
effective action to protect Michael.
Michael first went to live with the Watt family in 2001 after a period
sleeping rough. Within months he was experiencing violence at their
hands. As early as October 2001, more than seven years before he was
murdered, Michael told Luton social services that he wanted protection
after a dispute with James Watt and Watt’s mother. This was one of
many missed opportunities to help him find safety away from the Watts.
The Commission’s analysis
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s analysis of the Care Bill
suggests that the human rights of persons at risk of abuse would be
better protected by amending the bill to provide a power of entry for local
authority representatives, where a third party is refusing access to a
3
EHRC (2012) Hidden in plain sight. Inquiry into disability-related harassment. Manchester: Equality and
Human Rights Commission. Page 43
3
person who is thought to be at risk of abuse and neglect. A power of
entry with appropriate safeguards, combined with the proposed duty of
local authorities to make enquiries, would enable more effective
interventions in response to allegations or suspicions of abuse and
neglect. The Commission therefore supports the proposed amendment
92ZFC in the Supplementary to the Sixth Marshalled List put forward by
Baroness Greengross.
About the Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is a statutory body,
established under the Equality Act 2006. Its statutory duties include,
among other things, to promote equality of opportunity, work towards the
elimination of unlawful discrimination, and promote awareness,
understanding and protection human rights.
The Commission enforces equality legislation on age, disability, gender
reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity,
race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and encourages
compliance with the Human Rights Act. It gives advice and guidance to
businesses, the voluntary and public sectors, and to individuals.
The Commission has a statutory duty under the Equality Act 20064 to
encourage and support the development of a society in which: people's
ability to achieve their potential is not limited by prejudice or
discrimination, there is respect for and protection of each individual's
human rights, there is respect for the dignity and worth of each
individual, each individual has an equal opportunity to participate in
society, and there is mutual respect between groups based on
understanding and valuing of diversity and on shared respect for equality
and human rights.
The Commission is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the
equality and human rights enactments and advising on the effectiveness
of enactments, as well as the likely effect of a proposed change of law5.
As a UN accredited National Human Rights Institution, the Commission
is required to ‘promote and ensure the harmonisation of national
legislation, regulations and practices with the international human rights
4
5
Equality Act 2006, section 3.
Equality Act 2006, section 11.
4
instruments to which the State is a party’.6 This includes the European
Convention on Human Rights, incorporated in the Human Rights Act
1998.
Find out more about the Commission’s work at:
www.equalityhumanrights.com
6
Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles), Adopted by General Assembly
resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993.
5