09-29-2007, 11:47 AM
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Too lazy to set a custom title
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 40,377
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OT | British women spent 70 years in mental institutions for stealing pennies in 1937
Falsely accused woman freed after 70 years
Quote:
Seventy years locked up in institutions hardly seems to be a punishment that befits the crime of stealing half-a-crown.
However, it is just such a fate that befell Jean Gambell when at the age of 15, in 1937, she was falsely accused of stealing 2s 6d (12.5p) from the doctor's surgery where she worked as a cleaner.
She was sectioned under the 1890 Lunacy Act and even though the money was later found, she has been moved from mental institution to mental institution. More recently, she went into a care home and has been lost to her family, who thought she was dead.
But last month, by chance, her brother stumbled across correspondence which led to the discovery of her existence and the family was reunited.
"I couldn't believe it. I suddenly realised that my sister was still alive. I rang the care home straight away and they confirmed that our sister was there." He and his brother Alan, who had last seen their sister as small children when she was allowed to visit home with two wardens as guards, travelled to the Macclesfield home.
They were told by staff that their 85-year-old sister was deaf, could only communicate in writing and was very unlikely to remember them.
"A little old lady on walking sticks came in," said Alan. "She looked at us and cried out: 'Alan...David'. Then she put her arms around us. It was very emotional.
"I am sure that what has kept her going all these years was the challenge of proving to the authorities that she had a family. The trouble was, nobody would listen to her."
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full story
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...9/nfree129.xml
 
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