Sweden to deport bed-ridden British pensioner, 74, with Alzheimer’s

An elderly British woman with Alzheimer’s, who can’t walk or talk, will be torn from her loved ones and deported from Sweden because she can’t get an updated passport in a move called ‘cruel’ and ‘deeply shocking’. ‘.

Widowed Kathleen Poole, 74, moved to Sweden from Macclesfield, Cheshire, 18 years ago to be close to her son, Wayne, his Swedish wife, Angelica and their four children.

But the bedridden retiree developed dementia 11 years ago and has been in a nursing home for the past decade. She is now so disabled by the degenerative disease that she cannot feed herself or go to the bathroom without help.

Now the helpless grandmother is facing expulsion from the country after her family’s offer to stay was rejected. Mrs. Poole’s loved ones had told authorities that she did not have a passport because she was too ill to travel and she did not need one.

Their pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears, however, as officials at the British embassy in Stockholm told them on Friday that Swedish police had been contacted to “push” to find a UK nursing home for the Mrs. Poole.

Her family says they have not updated her passport because she is bedridden and can no longer travel. Mrs. Poole appears in her bed at her nursing home in Sweden.

“It is impossible to say how long it will take, but when we have found a nursing home willing to receive his mother, the police will give us a travel date and we will have to issue an emergency passport,” an embassy official said. the pools, The Guardian informed.

Ms Poole’s son and daughter-in-law called the treatment inhumane, and Angelica said her 11-year-old son now feared the police would take his grandmother away from him.

‘It is the children who are affected. They are not the ones who have to deal with their anxiety and their nightmares,” he said.

Activists have lashed out at the Swedish authorities’ decision, with Labor MP Hilary Benn calling the move “deeply shocking”.

While Councilor Laura Jeuda, who represents Macclesfield South on Cheshire East Council, also struck.

She told MailOnline: ‘I think it’s shocking. It’s very cruel… I’m really surprised by Sweden. We know them to be very affectionate, their social attention is really good.

“It’s strange that they would mess with a woman of that age who has this additional complication of dementia.

We don’t know what will happen to that poor woman if she is separated from her family and taken to a strange county she won’t remember.

In happier times: Mrs. Poole hugs one of her grandchildren. She now faces being torn from her family and deported to the UK, as she has not lived there for 18 years.

‘Cruel’ and ‘deeply shocking’: Labor MP Hilary Benn (left) and local councilor Laura Jeuda, who represents Macclesfield South on Cheshire East Council, lashed out at Sweden’s decision to deport Ms Poole, formerly of Macclesfield.

Ms. Poole developed dementia 11 years ago and has been in a nursing home for the past decade. She is now so disabled by the degenerative disease that she cannot feed herself or go to the bathroom without help.

The Labor councilor asked Whitehall to intervene and oppose the decision of the Swedish authorities.

Calling the fiasco ‘another Brexit downside’, Cllr Jeuda added: ‘We need to get something from the government on this, otherwise what are we saying about our elderly? That they don’t really matter?’

Under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, UK citizens who lived in the EU before the 2016 referendum were granted the right to remain.

However, in several countries, it involved completing applications and paperwork to prove historic rights under free movement rules.

A Swedish government spokesman has said it is “against the law” to comment on any immigration issue.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office added that it was “standing behind” Ms Poole and her family.