Woman in critical condition after council ‘failed to fix mould and damp issues’
A woman has been left critically ill after a council failed to get rid of mould and damp which was affecting her health, her husband has told Sky News.
Morgan Sinnott is on a ventilator in intensive care after being rushed to hospital while struggling to breathe on New Year’s Day.
Her husband, Lewis Sinnott, believes issues in their one-bedroom flat have contributed to his wife’s severe ill health.
The council has said it is “doing everything we can to rectify issues of condensation, damp and mould” at the Waltham Abbey property and highlighted that workers have visited “several times” to fix various problems.
Mrs Sinnott has an extremely rare genetic condition, Wolfram Syndrome, that makes her vulnerable to respiratory illnesses. This is the third time she has had pneumonia.
Just weeks before she was rushed to hospital, her specialist consultant wrote a letter urging the council to find the family a new home.
Mr Sinnott has said the council’s actions are “unacceptable”.
Mr Sinnott believes deeper structural issues are behind the recurring mould and damp issues
Mrs Sinnott has contracted pneumonia three times
“They [the council] could have prevented this from happening years ago and they’ve done nothing,” he told Sky News.
“They got warned about this, they’ve had hospital letters, they’ve had everything that they’ve asked for, and they’ve done nothing about it.”
Mr Sinnott believes the recurring mould and damp are being caused by deep, structural issues that need to be addressed.
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Mirs Sinnott’s doctor previously wrote to the council asking for them to find the family a new home
The council has visited the property ‘several times’ to fix numerous issues
Epping Forest District Council told Sky News it is “very sorry” to hear of Mrs Sinnott’s illness.
It also admitted that it’s unclear why the flat “is suffering so badly in comparison with others in the block” and said the property’s condition has “greatly improved” since recently completed works.
Addressing the couple’s request to move, a spokesman added that there is a “chronic lack of social housing” in Epping Forest, “where demand far outstrips supply”.
It is looking at the family’s request for a transfer in light of Mrs Sinnott’s hospitalisation and this will be assessed by an independent medical adviser.
“In the meantime, we will continue to monitor and treat the symptoms of damp and mould at no 53 and investigate whether there is anything else we can do to remedy the causes,” he said.
Mould in the Sinnott family’s Waltham Abbey council flat
Health officials have told Sky News that tackling the country’s housing issues will relieve pressure on the NHS.
About 20% of respiratory admissions into hospitals this winter will be a result of people living in poor housing conditions, Dr Andy Knox – a GP and associate medical director for the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board -said.
The government recently proposed new guidelines that would mean social landlords have to address and fix problems within a strict timeframe.
The requirements are part of a consultation under legislation named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died from a respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in December 2020. Awaab and his family lived in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors for Public Health, has warned that councils will need to be able to afford repair costs or construction of new homes.
“Laws are great but we need to be able to afford to implement them,” he said.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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