Brother "probably dead for 18 months" (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Brother "probably dead for 18 months"

A PENSIONER who lived in a caravan while his brother lay dead in the next room for 18 months might have tried to ignore the fact he was sharing his home with a corpse, an inquest has heard.

Bert Silver (72) suspected there was something wrong with his older brother George (75) but did not check on him because they lived "separate lives".

Instead, he spent the next year-and-a-half living in the mobile home, unaware his brother's body had decomposed into just a skeleton in his cobweb-filled bedroom.

The inquest heard that the brothers were shy, reclusive men, who repeatedly ignored doctors.

Bert finally made the grim discovery of his brother's body after "plucking up the courage" to enter the room at the run-down caravan in the village of Blissford, near Fordingbridge.

At the inquest last Friday, Detective Sergeant David Brown said police officers were stunned when they went to retrieve George's body.

He told the inquest: "We had a call from Bert Silver saying he hadn't seen his brother for a couple of days and he had found him dead.

"Upon arrival at Bert's secluded mobile home, officers discovered the deceased was so badly decomposed that no effort was made to enter the room where he lay.

"Bert had said he had stuck his head around his brother's bedroom door and simply found him dead.

"When asked when he had last seen his brother, Bert replied, 'Not for a while'."

Det Sgt Brown said George's room was so full of cobwebs and clutter it was clear no one had been inside for some considerable time.

A post mortem examination revealed that George had probably been dead for 18 months.

Professor William Roach, who examined George's remains, said: "The only remaining skin on his body was a small patch on the right side of the chest, and the rest of him was reduced, effectively, to skeletal remains.

"I am unable to ascertain the cause of death but my assessment is he had lain there for 18 months."

The inquest at Southampton heard that a psychiatrist who spoke to Bert about his brother's death found him to be both shocked and distressed.

Dr Joan Smithies, consultant psychiatrist, said she believed Bert suffered from a disorder that allowed him to disconnect his thoughts from actual events.

She said: "Bert is a very anxious reclusive man. He described to me a traumatic childhood experience after being evacuated to Yorkshire during the war.

"I believe his childhood trauma has developed into his way of dealing with things by cutting off his feelings from events.

"This is a very unusual case that may explain why Bert appears to have tried to ignore the body and did not report the death. He carried on leading his life normally.

"Bert told me that he and his brother tended to live separate lives."

Southampton coroner Keith Wiseman recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

He said: "This is an extremely unusual case and it is clear that Bert and George were rarely prepared to seek any kind of medical help.

"George clearly had an aversion to visiting his doctor and reports have indicated that he may have been suffering from some kind of cancer.

"From what I have heard, the two brothers got on well and they were mutually dependent on each other."

Bert and George moved to the three-bedroomed mobile home with their late sister Dorothy after they retired 12 years ago.

The brothers, both bachelors, were born and raised in Bexleyheath, Kent.

George did national service with the Army Catering Corps, before he worked for the then London Electricity Board.

Bert worked for Kent county council in the roads and bridges department.