Elderly couple calls police because they’re desperately lonely
When police in the UK received an emergency call from an elderly couple, they were concerned the 95-year-old couple had been injured in a fall.
But when two constables arrived at the house, they found it wasn’t any outward injuries that had prompted the call but something even more heartbreaking: loneliness.
PC Stu Ockwell, one of the constables who checked in, said, “The couple did not need medical attention and in fact the call had been made out of desperation”.
It is understood that Mrs Thompson, who first name was not disclosed, is in poor health but still caring for her husband, Fred Thompson, who is going blind.
Ockwell told The Telegraph, “What we found was a lovely elderly couple who were caring for each other, probably finding it a bit difficult to care for each other with their ailments and their age, and that were in need of a bit of company if anything.”
The two officers did the only human thing possible and stayed and chatted with the couple.
“We spent half an hour with them, put on the kettle whilst Fred told us the stories of when he was in the war,” an emotional Ockwell said in the video interview.
“He’s an amazing character and had us in fits of laughter and to me it made my day.”
Mr Thomson told The Telegraph it was “nice to have somebody different to talk to” and commended the police officers for being “very civil sort of people, as you would expect.”
“I was very pleased to know there was help around, and pleased to talk to them. Because sometimes you can feel a bit isolated as you get older,” Mr Thomson said. “They made me feel at home.”
Ockwell said Mr Thomson and his wife had “good support from neighbours and children, who visit every other day” but that Mrs Thomson's memory “appears to be fading a bit”.
“What was clear is that, although it is hard, they just want to look after each other,” he said.
“Sometimes people struggle, especially at this time of year. The help is there, we just went to comfort them.”