Pinner, Middlesex hoarder dies amid festering rubbish

29 January 2009

A PINNER pensioner died among waist-high heaps of festering rubbish that filled all the rooms in his flat.

Neighbours alleged that Harrow Council had done nothing despite being alerted to the problem for eight years.

After Tony Baxter (85) was found dead in his £350,000 flat, his neighbours in Nower Hill said they had been writing to the council for years.

The smell from his flat attracted rats, they added.

One month after he was found dead, council workers cleared out the flat. They found a huge collection of newspapers, letters, urine-stained clothes and bags full of excrement.

They took over four hours to clear the hallway alone. The officials found signs that rats and mice had been in the flat.

They wore forensic suits and face masks. The stink from the flat could be detected at the start of the driveway to the building.

Mr Baxter is believed to have started hoarding before his wife Thelma became ill with cancer, but after her death in 1991 conditions quickly worsened.

The son of the owner of the flat above, Pam Scantlebury, said: "After years of trying to get the council to do something, my mum found a Staying Put programme, which helps bring properties up to scratch so people don’t have to move.

"He was put in a bed and breakfast for about four months and they completely gutted the house. He was given new windows, new floors, new fittings, a whole new kitchen and it was all rewired at the expense of the taxpayer.

"It must have cost in the region of £60,000, yet nobody ever came back to check that he was keeping it in a good state.

"Soon he was hoarding again and my mum was battling to get him more help.”

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