My Brother My Enemy by Adrienne Narin documents her personal experiences trying to navigate the UK’s cumbersome legal systems when she fears economic abuse and property theft had taken place.

Published in 2013, Adrienne outlines the difficulties she had getting police to investigate the suspected misuse of a Lasting Power of Attorney, Economic Abuse where an older person’s property was transferred to a younger family member, and possible coercion and control of a vulnerable older person.

Adrienne documents the numerous interactions with various police forces, local authorities and other statutory bodies between 1999 and 2012. The response from the Police was seemingly to view this case as a civil matter and to not properly investigate possible economic abuse of an older person.

Time and again people and authorities failed to properly investigate Adrienne’s case or deal with her concerns. This response is not at all unusual. In many of the cases Hourglass deals with police and other officials have not been trained in how to identify and abuse of an older person. It is quite common for police to dismiss cases of economic abuse against and older person as ‘just a civil matter’.

The issue of Lasting Powers of Attorney being misused, an issue that features heavily in this book, is something people often contact Hourglass about. Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) in theory is there to help people in England and Wales to stay in control of decisions about their health and finance and make important decisions for others who cannot decide for themselves. Previously when Hourglass have raised the issue of Powers of Attorney being misused, the OPG have not always acted. The lack of oversight and controls over Lasting Powers of Attorneys, mean cases like the one described in this book continue to go uninvestigated.

At the conclusion of the book, Adrienne writes:

I do not believe it is right that someone can take an elderly woman’s home in such a manner. To my way of thinking, a law change is required in the United Kingdom to ensure that any such granted power must be registered from the onset.

Hourglass continues to lobby for changes to the law that safeguard against property theft. Strengthening the law around this should be part of the government’s fraud strategy.

Adrienne goes on to say:

Will politicians agree, or even look at this pressing issue? Statutory Law is formulated on their say so, but they can override common law if they so choose. The Jury remains out on whether anyone in Britain’s Parliament has the courage to take such a step.

Indeed, the jury is still out on whether politicians have the courage to strengthen the law to prevent abuse of older people. When the Domestic Abuse Act was debated in the House of Commons in 2020, older people were not mentioned even once. More recently, when the Victims and Prisoners Bill was debated, there was cross party support in principle for specialist services supporting older victim-survivors of abuse. This in principle support did not come with any price tag.

Hourglass recently launched our Manifesto:  https://www.wearehourglass.org/hourglass-manifesto-2024

This document outlines the key policy changes needed to protect older people against abuse and neglect. As Adrienne says, we need politicians with courage to make these changes. If they don’t, cases like Adrienne’s will continue to be ignored and not properly investigated.

To purchase By Brother My Enemy visit: www.wearehourglass.org