Neebert.net
Anthony Neil Barker
CLOSE THE COURT
OF PROTECTION?
Well
in my experience for managing funds yes, private trusts seem to have a far
better track record all round. They do not have certain powers that a court has,
but on the plus side they can not abuse power they do not have. In my dealings
with the court of protection it has become clear that the 2005 Mental capacity
act is not followed. My deputy was supposed to act in my best interest, he did
not and I lost a lot of money as I watched him fail after he had told me he
would carry out my requests. It has been very hard for me and I have suffered a
great deal at the hands of the court of protection, it has made me ask the
question "If I were to make bad finical decisions and even end up bankrupt
would that be worse than being under the court of protection?" Well I have
never made a bad finical decision other than the minor things we all do. Who
has not felt tired and decided to get a take away? You could always save money
but as we only live once and you can not take it with you there is only a
certain level of caution required. So
my answer is no one should have to suffer like I have, my human rights have
been violated and this hurts me a great deal.
I
have also found especially after my accident that I had to learn or learn again
from mistakes. I like everyone else am not perfect, I do not personally play
the lottery or buy scratch cards as I know where the money I spend on these
would go. I do not gamble in anyway, this is because the odds are against the
player. So how can someone like me be under the court of protection? Well this
is because the court of protection is a bad system trying to protect it's self
and also they treat everyone the same. Now treating me the same as someone in a
coma is not only insulting but it would never work.
The
court of protection is growing rapidly, this seems to be down to the private
sector. Solicitors are using it to extract large amounts of money from people
awarded compensation. I know this is how my story went, for instance the same
solicitors that took on my accident claim also became my deputy. They
repeatedly refused me reviews even though the 2005 mental capacity act states I
should have been given one. Finally after almost two years of me complaining
and my deputy learning I was planning to have him charged with fraud he told me
he would arrange a review.
THE REVIEW
The
doctor that performed my review got a lot of work from my solicitors and I had
called him a few weeks before my deputy had agreed I could have a review, he
told me he could not do it. I thought this was because he was worried he would
not be paid as I was under the CoP, so I asked my mother to arrange it. She
called the doctor, he told her he could not do it. Then lone behold my deputy
calls him and he can do it right away! But I thought he was fully booked for
months? I was suspicious to say the least... Basically the review in my opinion
was a joke, if you ask me he wrote what my deputy told him to write. I have no
way of proving this other than by asking my friend who I dated for most of
2010. We are friends and she is looking at his report now, she is a trained
psychologist. My personal view is that as I am dyslexic but clever I get angry
because people don't understand me, this could be confused with lacking mental
capacity but I would expect someone well trained to have taken my autistic side
into account. My first school put we into a class with people that were
disabled as they thought I was stupid. I have always found my autistic side
hard to deal with but you should not confuse problems I have always had with
problems relating to my head injury.
If
I want to waste my money, which I don't, why can't I? Many people smoke, that
is paying money for something that will kill them, should they not be under the
court of protection? I hope you can see the rules can and are taken to mean
many things. You can not ruin someone's
life just because they were in an accident that was not there fault but
currently this what I feel is happening to me. What I have suffered at the
hands of the court of protection is far worse than my accident.
MY ACCIDENT
To
put my last statement into perspective I will let you know about my accident. I
had been to my friend Hamish's house, I left then stopped to fill up my
motorbike with petrol. I left the petrol station and continued my journey that
normally took about six minutes. I never made it home that night, it was late
and there was just one car coming towards me, it indicated to turn into a road
I was coming up to. As it was my right of way I continued but the driver of the
car had poor eyesight and did not see me. He drove into the side of my bike, I
went flying... I hit a lamppost head first. My helmet had come off so my head
took the full impact. When the ambulance and police arrived I had dragged
myself to the side of the road and was holding my face together. The right hand
side of my head and face had been smashed in. I was rushed to Kingston hospital
and when there started to fit. I was sedated for many days and was in intensive
care for about a week.
It
has taken me many years and lots of trial and error , not to mention a years
full time rehabilitation to recover. I suffered a frontal lobe traumatic brain
injury that left me with many problems. I have had four operations on my right
eye to correct a squint and lost my sense of smell. My right eye has under half
it's previous field of vision. This made it hard to re-learn to drive but I am
happy I am once again a safe driver. It took about seven years for me to
recover and I did not suffer anything like what I have suffered at the hands of
the court of protection. It is a living nightmare that would seem near
impossible to escape from, like a prison with no walls and I have been given a
life sentence for being a victim. I argue it is worse than being in prison as
you are not charged for being in prison, you even get food. You also get a
release date and although you are labeled as a criminal I would prefer this to
"Lacking Mental Capacity". It is an insult that people who are, and
there is no other word for this, stupid can run my life. Sorry did I say run? I
meant ruin my life. To fix my problem all they would have to do is leave me
alone and give me back the money they have taken from me. Taking something from
someone without permission to do so is stealing, but they will tell you it's ok
because they gave themselves permission to take my money. Well I would like my
money back please and for you to leave me alone to live my life, if I want to
invest it in a space rocket then that is up to me. Personally I have always
been cautious and gone for low risk investments, maybe that is why I have such
a problem with the court of protection.
KEEPING PEOPLE SAFE
I
would like to see a way of keeping vulnerable people safe but the court of
protection has failed too many times to be given another chance. Close it down
and try and make something better, in my experience nothing at all would be better than the court of
protection but for some people that is
not an option. The 0.5% interest is a joke, how long they take to make
decisions is a joke. The whole system is a bad joke. Any company that acted
like that would go out of business straight away. I am sure there are good deputies and people that work in the
court of protection. I feel it very unfair to those people really trying to
protect vulnerable people, that there are so many falling through the cracks.
It must be possible to build a system that can look after the interests of the
people that require help that does not cause too many problems. I hope very
much this can be realized. During my rehabilitation I met a number of people
who had been left with serious problems through no fault of there own. Don't
write people like us off, help us learn how we can overcome our problems, it is
not easy and may take a long time but it could be you in the position one day.
CONSIDERATIONS
I
feel it is important to remember that the people under the court of protection
are all different. Some cases they are very difficult, my grandmother came to
live with us when she got too old to be safe on her own. She was fine with my
mother, my three brothers and I. As she got older she developed dementia and
she developed clinical anxiety. I did not know about these problems as I was
still a teenager and I remember all I could do was to ask her about past times
as she only had a problem remembering new things. We would talk happily for
hours about the 2nd world war and many other things, it was a good history
lesson for me. She would endlessly worry about her keys and be suspicious about
one of my brothers, I am glad she was not placed under the court of protection
now though. My case is so different and there are those that have other disorders
that will stop them from receiving medical treatment along with many other
types of disorder. I can not see how a deputy that has no medical training can
know what is best for each case. Each case needs a different type of person to
act in there best interests. In my case I needed the freedom to try things and
see what I could do or learn what I could not. I was always told to stop by my
deputy, I did not and performed my task, always keeping in mind what I had
learnt during my rehabilitation. The best way to explain this is, I would view
everything like buying a house, I still do this and although more work it has
kept me far safer than my deputy, safer than most people. I am lucky though, as
I keep in mind that no matter how recovered I feel I know we do not know
everything about the human brain so it is best to proceed with caution. In an
ideal world someone in my situation would be lightly monitored but be given
free will to live there life and only stopped if there was a clear problem.
This is completely different from someone who need's constant care and is at
real risk of harming themselves. I think having an independent monitoring and
complaint's department that could rapidly change a deputy would be a step in
the right direction.
FRAUD - ADDED 20-7-2011
It
looks like my deputy has stolen just over £174,000 from me. This would explain
why he was so insistent I could not have a review and why he would not send me
information on my account although I repeatedly requested it. My account will
be audited independently and my deputy will stand trial for his crimes. I hope
he will go to jail for a considerable period of time and it is also my wish
that Dr Powell will be charged as well. I feel his crimes are worse in some
respect as he has committed a human right's violation by keeping me in the CoP
although I do not lack mental capacity. Either way I now have a honest doctors
report and shall use this to be released
and show that Dr Powell wrote a report based not on me but to protect Mr
Lemon from Jail. Maybe Dr Powell did not know what Mr Lemon was up to? Well
ignorance is no defense. There is a very small possibility that Mr Lemon
changed the report but I find this very unlikely and I shall do my best to see
everyone involved in this terrible crime goes to jail for a long time.
THE FACTS
1) I was awarded
1.7million pounds.
2) My deputy
failing to buy property from my mother cost me between 50-100 thousand pounds.
3) My deputy not
paying off a mortgage cost me 25 thousand pounds
4) My deputy and
the court of protection have paid themselves at least 20 thousand pounds.
5) My deputy
kept paying a medical professional I did not use, want or need, even though I
told him not to, cost unknown...
6) My deputy
refused me a review on several occasions.
7) I made a
complaint through my MP. My MP got a quick response, someone came from the
office of the public guardian, they did not resolve any of my problems or help
me in anyway.
8) Of all my
friends I am the most careful with money.
9) I managed
building work on a property and increased it's value by 125 thousand pounds.
(the work cost 70 thousand pounds)
10) My deputy
told me to stop the building work I was carrying out, I did not.
11) My profit of
just over 50 thousand pounds was mostly lost thanks to my deputy. (not 55,000
as I had to pay agent fees on it when I sold the property)
12) I have lost
no less than 50 thousand pounds in interest as the CoP only pay 0.5%.
13) I have been
trying to escape the court of protection for almost two years and have not been
able to.
14) It is not
fair to charge people for being disabled.
15) I do not
lack mental capacity to manage my finances, I am perfectly able to make well
informed decisions.
16) I hold a
2003 MCSA certification.(Microsoft certified system administrator)
17) I am
qualified in first aid. (I saved my mother from choking and recently found an
unconscious girl in a park, I checked she was breathing, called 999 and just
stayed with her until the ambulance arrived)
18) I lost a brother
David to cancer, I was 19 he was 21. He fought for years before it killed him.
I feel like that again, it is a pain I would not wish on anyone. (I was born in
1977)
If you would like to mail me please use
commentsonthecop
at neebert.net
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10763890
<--- from a BBC radio program I was in.
That is such a bad picture of me on the BBC website, I am
going to put up a better one...
Documents
relating to my claims
http://www.factuk.org.uk/ - Families
against court of protection theft.