A tragic Wheatley Homes hero’s medals and uniforms were binned after a housing association was wrongly told he had no next of kin. John Wannop’s family were left heartbroken when the dad of two died from a heart condition aged just 46.
But they couldn’t believe their eyes when they turned up at his home and found it had been cleared.
His ex-wife, Samantha Wannop, said: “The impact that this has had on my family has been devastating. My children have got nothing tangible left of their dad.
“It’s all just been taken, it’s heartbreaking. It’s the worse thing that could have happened after his death.”
John, who served in the Royal Highland Fusiliers for 12 years, died suddenly in his home in Knightswood, Glasgow, in April. Police officers kept the key to John’s flat while a post-mortem was carried out and contacted Samantha, who was still his next-of-kin.
But Police Scotland appears to have told Wheatley Homes he had no other family which meant the housing association disposed of all his possessions. Samantha, 46, from Glasgow, who had son Connor, now 25, and daughter Abbey, now 24, with John, said: “When the police couldn’t locate the key when we went to pick it up, it transpired that had been given to the housing association.
“I rang them up and they said that all his belongings had been binned. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and they replied that his stuff had been disposed of.
“We thought it was a joke so I went along to the flat that afternoon with Connor and Abbey and when we looked through the letterbox, we could see the place was totally empty. We just couldn’t believe what we were told was true.
“Nobody had asked anything – they just went ahead and binned it all, even though they have a storage facility. We didn’t even have his uniform to put him in for the funeral. His regiment made replicas of his medals for Connor and Abbey but they’re not the same, even though we were touched by their kindness.
“His medals were from Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Iraq and the UN.” The family say neither Wheatley Homes nor Police Scotland have taken responsibility for the clear-out of his flat. The housing association says police couldn’t provide a next of kin after John’s death, while documents filled in before he moved into the property did not give details of any family.
Samantha, who revealed John’s mum passed away last month, said: “I feel no one is taking any responsibility. The housing officer told me that John didn’t have any family and had never spoken about anyone before in their meetings.
I feel an assumption has been made. Surely protocol would say that a person’s belongings were put in storage for them to formally investigate that there is definitely no family instead of it being done so immediately?
“An assumption has been made and no effort to see if it was the case there was no next of kin. John had lots of family and friends.
“Wheatley have offered us no support after disposing of all of John’s belongings and we have no idea why the police told them there was no next of kin. We can hope the police and Wheatley make changes so that another family doesn’t have to suffer like we have.”
Police Scotland has referred itself to Professional Standards over the incident, while Wheatley Homes says it will review procedure to ensure a similar situation does not happen in the future.
A Wheatley Homes Glasgow spokesman said: “We’re extremely sorry for the distress caused to the family during this very difficult time. Unfortunately, the police told us there was no next of kin and we had no record of the family on the housing application form.
“We’re working with the family to compensate them for their loss. We’ve also put in place additional checks to prevent this happening again.”
A police spokesman said: “A complaint has been received and is being progressed by our Professional Standards Department. The complainer will be updated on conclusion and it would be inappropriate to comment.”
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