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Mad Neighbour

One of my neighbours is mad (Age 70), and I'm a little concerned about her.  She has no real family left.

Primarily she is paranoid and that leads to bizarre explanations about entirely ordinary events. She has been hospitalised in the past and avoids any contact with the medical profession.

So in a nutshell

1. She has a house worth about 700k which belonged to her father, who died at 96 5 years ago (she believes he was murdered).

2. She and her father were building an annexe to that house before he died, she believes that the NHS poisoned her and destroyed her immune system in the 70/80's when she was sectioned.  She therefore couldn't live in the house because it wasn't sterile enough and needed an annexe.  None of this appears to be true.. 

3. She fell out with 2 builders and with the council over the annexe.  She believes they are trying to send electrical waves into the property to kill her.

4. She has lived in a travel lodge for 3 years.  She's funded that by selling of three parcels of land that went with the house (2 to me and at the higher of three independent valuations which I insisted upon).

5. That money has now run out and she was doing equity release to get her back in the house or at least pay for the travel lodge.  That fell through because she didn't find them accommodating enough for valuation dates and convinced herself that there was a conspiracy to steal her house by them.  

6. She has now entered into some, unspecified, arrangement via her solicitor which seems to have released money (she owes me money but I haven't chased) and has put in place arrangements whereby people are invested in her staying alive so that if she disappears something will be done.  Her explanation.

7. There is apparently a conspiracy at NHS level to do her in, at Royal Family level to monitor her because she believes her mother was an illegitimate royal and potentially a plot to murder her by her immediate neighbour (who actually do a lot for her and who she treats like a servant).  They were fond of her father.

8. She barely eats because she diverts all money to rent.  She will eat half a pack of instant mash every third day or so and often runs out of food.  I gave her money for food but she spent it on rent.  Since then I've offered and offered to bring her food but she won't let me.  She won't see a doctor or dentist and most of her teeth have rotted out of her mouth.  She is very frail.  She removed her own teeth with pliers in the past.

Previously she fell out with solicitors almost weekly, this latest one has lasted for 3 years but she spends a lot of money on him.  He is currently getting an injunction against a person (she knew from the mental ward) who used her property for car maintenance and has abandoned cars there.  He is currently in a paranoid phase himself, believing ghosts are attaching to him and is outpatient with some in patient car.  She is spending thousands on this.   She also speaks to her solicitor daily to go through what might be happening with her other neighbours who she thinks might be plotting to kills her.

She seems to be getting more and more unstable and I don't see any prospect of her getting back into her home (she now says she can't more in because of threats on her life).  Basically I'm concerned she's entered into some weird arrangement on the house and that she's being taken advantage of.

I'm probably the only person outside of her solicitor she talks to and I have no vested financial interest in her.  She seems to be getting more and more delusional though.  She has never had friends or an intimate relationship.  She said recently "if she decided to go down that route, it would have to be a respectable man" which I thought was sweet.  

If I ring mental health, because I don't think she's suicidal or a danger to herself, I think they wouldn't act.  It would also mean she'd put me in the "trying to kill or harm her" pile in her mind.

 

for 3 years.  She's funded that by selling of three parcels of land that went with the house (2 to me and at the higher of three independent valuations which I insisted upon).

was going to heh at this

until I got to:

She is very frail.  She removed her own teeth with pliers in the past.

I'd forgotten but she also pulled off three of her toenails because she convinced herself they were infected with some disease as a result of the NHS negligence.  

I never saw her feet but my neighbour says she won't remove socks for months because of "infection risk" and they are rank.  They think there was nothing but foot rot causing her toe issue.

 

God all that is awful. 

The kindest thing you can do is alert those responsible for care of people who have lost their bearings.  You mention she has a solicitor - how about you write to that person (a lawyer contacting a lawyer should result in serious consideration of the points raised at least) and suggest that her welfare needs indicate that she should receive professional help.  That person may then be able to, say, contact her GP etc. 

This is an absolute shitter. The only people can help her are the proper authorities. But her paranoia centres on them. 

It’s clearly mental health but not crisis team serious. Sorry this isn’t very helpful but I’m not sure what more you can do beyond what you are already doing. 

I am actually very suspicious of her solicitor, but agree he is in an impossible position.

She told me that around 15k of money I gave for land went in legal fees.

She rings to talk to her solicitor every day so I can quite understand how the bill went up, and she instructs him on everything, including dealing with pension authorities on her state pension.

It's the odd arrangement for the land that is concerning me, but if she had no dependants and she gets to live in her house with food other than instant mash... should I care?

I rang the mental health team who basically told me I'd have to big up the risk of harm for them to be able to intercede.

She has a lady she talks to at the council housing team periodically (the house having been empty for years now it is in danger of compulsory purchase) but no one in any proper mental health  capacity.

Sumo... sadly tap water here.....

this whole thing sounds awful - don’t think there’s a lot you can do doggers tbh

imagine if it was all true though and the royal family were putting pressure on the nhs to do her in because she was next in line to the throne?

Let’s be honest, she’s really not worth bothering about. 

She’s beyond help, makes no positive contribution to anyone or anything, and lis likely to ‘turn’ on anyone who tries to help her.

Good rule in life is to avoid at all costs anyone with a mental illness, if you have the choice to do so.

I had occasion at an institution that received complaints from the public. One man who lived in a bed sit in Brighton said that whenever he went out the Bank of England broke into his flat and poisoned his food. This was all because he was about to blow the lid on how decimalisation had caused all manor of problems (this was written in the 1990s). 

Best person to help her would be her GP - if they are concerned enough they can refer to adult mental health. Can you find out who the GP is and flag it to them?

Aunt D - to put it another way, on the facts as described, would anyone in the world have the slightest regret is she pegged out tomorrow?

Even her long-suffering Solicitor will undoubtedly be glad to get shot of her, at least as an extant client.

One of the Finnish competitors in cross-country skiing at the Olympics suffered from frostbite on the penis and had to have it warmed up gently and slowly. 

Do you think that skier and your neighbour may be related?

She has no gp. She believes the nhs poisoned her, have doctored the records and take part in a giant conspiracy to do people like her in to avoid compensation.  She avoids authority since her committal. I think she's been committed at least twice but it's hard to get a consistent story.

At the moment she is obsessing because a well spoken man helped her get something off the shelf in wilko. Her view is he can only have come from the royal family because nicely spoken men don't go into wilko.

Really tricky then without a GP.
As splash said it seems a clear safeguarding issue for the MH team but not the crisis team. If you’ve already spoken to them (are you sure you got through to the right ones?) and they’ve refused you are a bit screwed. Your idea of the solicitor is probably the next stop.

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