Abusive relationship - dementia involved

[TonyRPH]

My O/H and I have become aware of a couple living nearby, and...;

Background:
"Julie" has early onset of dementia and is very confused for a lot of the time.
"John" has been involved with "Julie" for about 15 months - but recently announced his intention to leave.

Julie has a fairly substantial amount of money and is believed to be the sole owner of the property (we're unable to access the deeds to check though, due to the registration backlog).

John appears to be abusing Julie in that he is failing to ensure that her day to day life is adequately catered for - e.g. no food, drink or heat in the home.

John has also announced his intention to move out, but then had a sudden change of heart, following fresh involvement from Julie's (previously estranged) family.

Now to my question;

Following Julie's family involvement, they have become deeply concerned with the situation.

If Julie were to be placed in respite (temporary care), would it be legal to change the locks on the home, and lock John out?

As far as anyone knows, John has no right to the home, and has supposedly been paying rent to live there (although whether or not he has been paying is yet to be established).

There was also a period of 3 - 4 months where John wasn't living there, and would only visit on a weekend, but not stay over.

John has also been seen around town with another woman by at least three other parties.

Such a messy, complicated situation.

I am note related to either John or Julie - I am just sympathetic to the situation having watched my MIL and my own mother's life be destroyed by dementia.

Thanks for any help.

[QuartzDad]

Does anyone have a finance LPA in place for Julie?

[Bill]

The best thing to do is call the council safeguarding team and let them know.

[Anastie]

Bill said:

The best thing to do is call the council safeguarding team and let them know.

This!

Without a shadow of doubt! For context prior to retirement I worked in heath and social care. I chaired and investigated many safeguarding issues. Contacting safeguarding team and raising an alert is the most appropriate course of action.

[TonyRPH]

QuartzDad said:

Does anyone have a finance LPA in place for Julie?

It's unknown, however it is believed there is no LPA in place.

Bill said:

The best thing to do is call the council safeguarding team and let them know.

A social worker has been assigned (and has visited Julie) in the past week, so the wheels are in motion - but because of the concern for Julie, it's thought that the quicker she can be removed from the situation, the better.

Hence my question about changing locks etc.

[gt_12345]

Bill said:

The best thing to do is call the council safeguarding team and let them know.

Make sure they do act on it though.

[Drumroll]

Difficult one, we had a similar thing with my mother. My father died and a while later my mum became involved with a man who at the start made her feel better. He then moved in and there were some changes in mum, (looking back it was the onset of her dementia) We had started to make enquiries about how we could get this man removed from mums house the answer was with great difficulty, unless he was violent towards mums then the police certainly weren't interested. Although the detective we talked to from the domestic abuse unit was very good, he did explain having the police turn up to "have a word" may actually make things worse. The solicitor felt that they may be able to do something but it would be very difficult if mum wasn't seen to be "pushing" for him to leave.

Thankfully he died of a heart attack not long after we started looking in to it. His family were knocking on mum's door wanting the £200 they claimed my mum had of their fathers money within a couple of hours of his death. Luckily one of my cousins was there to point them in the direction of the door.