- The man who shared a home with his dead brother for 18
months says he is "not bonkers" and has just been misunderstood.
-
- Herbert Silver presents a dog-eared photograph of his
brother Ted as he tries to explain the horrifying moment when he discovered
his sibling lying dead - in a skeletal state - in his room in their shared
trailer home shortly before Christmas - apparently up to 18 months after
he had died.
-
- "The truth is, Ted stayed in bed because of his
iron deficiency. It was very bad. He used to like a good old snore and
I just left him to it. I think I just left him to it a bit too long that
time," he says.
-
- When he finally summoned the courage to check on his
brother, Mr Silver says, he knew that something was gravely wrong: "I
opened the door and looked in there and he looked well was there a smell
?" he falters and puts his head in his hands.
-
- "It wasn't very nice and I shut the door, I came
back in here and I stood by the fire. The penny might have dropped but
then I felt traumatised.
-
- "I must have been in some sort of shock so I just
left him for a while. I just didn't believe it."
-
- It certainly sounds macabre: a 72-year-old man spending
his days watching television while his 76-year-old brother's "skeletal"
corpse lies in the next room. After police arrived, Mr Silver made matters
worse by shouting: "I'm not my brother's keeper."
-
- Although the cause and time of death have yet to be definitely
established, a post mortem examination reportedly indicated that Ted had
died of natural causes up to 18 months before his body was discovered.
-
- Today, however, Mr Silver wants to explain. "I admit
it was a while," he says, "but I was traumatised: I was in denial
- I wanted him to still be here. I might have left him a couple of days
and then I think I might have realised. Out of shock I didn't want to confront
it. I can't remember how long it was.
-
- "Now I want to put things right, explain to people
who have misunderstood," he says. "I am not bonkers, I grew up
with my brother, I miss him terribly.
-
- "They said that I left him for 18 months, but it
wasn't," he adds anxiously.
-
- "Nobody in the world would leave a bloke dead in
the back room that long, that would be off the wall. They made it sound
like I'd done it on purpose."
-
- Mr Silver is sitting in a pair of shorts in his over-heated
front room in Blissford, Hampshire, surrounded by junk from car boot sales;
press cuttings are strewn about the floor along with Gracie Fields records
and unopened bills. His brother's fishing equipment still stands by the
front door. The faint musty smell of antique shops pervades the home, mingled
with the metallic odour of a gas fire.
-
- Unfortunately, Mr Silver's case has not been helped by
his eccentricity (a "Stan Laurel face" that he pulls for photographs
is more like Worzel Gummidge) or by his reclusive behaviour.
-
- The family of three unmarried siblings moved to the village,
near Fordingbridge, from Kent 12 years ago, George, known as Ted, and sister
Dorothy (Dot) essentially playing parents to the youngest, Bert.
-
- After Dot died, the brothers remained in the three-bedroom
home, sharing everything from the car to a bank account, into which their
pensions were deposited automatically. Ted cooked while Bert bought and
sold for profit at car boot sales.
-
- Ted, a keen angler, suffered from pernicious anaemia
which, according to Mr Silver, could make him bad-tempered and frequently
kept him in bed.
-
- His bedroom adjoined the sitting room, but Mr Silver
knew not to disturb him: "When I knew he was a bit sore I would keep
a low profile," he says. "He could go crackers sometimes, but
I knew how to deal with him," he adds.
-
- "He was a very straight-talking man. He didn't like
people and would tell them to buzz off in no uncertain terms. You couldn't
take him anywhere. He didn't suffer fools gladly, oh my goodness, no. You
didn't rub Ted up the wrong way, no." He whistles at the thought.
-
- The pair were separated once in their lives - by war.
Mr Silver remembers it vividly: "I was evacuated to Yorkshire. It
was like a horror film; I was knocked about, beaten up and abused by the
boys at the school. Big blokes. Ted had always looked after me before,
if I got into scrapes he was there. Then I was suddenly alone - my brother
had gone into the Catering Corps."
-
- With the end of the war the brothers were reunited and
took jobs with the London Electricity Board. After the death of their parents,
Dot decided that she wanted to move to the country to keep chickens and
breed chihuahuas. Without hesitation, her brothers followed.
-
- With a jolt, Mr Silver comes out of his reverie. "I
have to accept that they have gone now," he says matter-of-factly.
-
- "There is going to be an inquest on February 19,
but I don't have to attend, thank goodness. The coroner said that there
was too much press interest and I think that it would bring the whole thing
up again. I don't know if they want me to pay back Ted's pension.
-
- "I am the only one left now. Your mind plays funny
tricks on you when you are bashed over the head with something like this.
-
- How long had he died or how long had he been there? It's
hard to say with the shock. But he didn't feel any pain, he died in his
sleep."
-
- Mr Silver pauses. "I still feel he's here all the
time. I talk to him. I say, 'What do you think of that, Ted?' things like
that. It just comes out."
-
- A police spokesman said: "Our officers were called
to the address in Blissford and found a decomposed body. Investigations
were carried out, but did not reveal anything of a criminal nature."
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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