Page 10 Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019
BRITAIN’S human rights watch-
dog should wield its ‘unique’
powers and take firms to court
if women are not paid the same
as men, MPs said yesterday.
It should not fear investigating
and fining firms and ordering
them to change their ways over
discrimination, they said.
An influential committee of
MPs called for the Equalities and
Human Rights Commission
(EHRC) to be revamped into an
equality police force.
And they severely criticised
the quango for past lapses,
saying it was ‘deeply concern-
ing’ the EHRC shied away from
‘challenging’ large firms.
They singled the EHRC out for
its failure to act against unequal
pay at the BBC for 18 months
after the first allegations that
the Corporation was paying
women less than men.
The push for an overhaul fol-‘Shied away from
challenges’By Steve Doughty
Social Affairs Correspondentlows Boris Johnson’s promises
to protect and extend the legal
rights of workers.
The Commons women and
equalities committee said it is
no longer enough to ask
employees who say they suf-
fered from prejudice at work
to take cases to tribunals or
courts by themselves.
A report by MPs said compa-
nies are not afraid of the watch-
dog, which ‘should significantly
increase the volume, transpar-
ency and publicity of its
enforcement work by making
greater use of its unique
enforcement powers’.
Former Tory Cabinet minister
Maria Miller, chairman of the
committee, said: ‘Creating a
society where people are not
treated differently because of
the colour of their skin, sex,
gender, sexuality or religion is
central to British values.’public appeal for Brian Coote, 64.
A man was arrested yesterday
and was last night being ques-
tioned on suspicion of murder. He
was tracked down to the village of
Caddington, near Luton.
Mrs Ford, known as Chrissy, is
believed to have moved to Flam-
stead almost ten years ago to be
near her family after separating
from her husband on the Isle of
Wight. She was often seen walking
around the village with her grand-
children Ben and Millie who lived
nearby with her son Mark, 42, and
his wife Alison, 41.
Neighbours said she would often
be seen in the gardens of the vil-
lage church tending the flowers
and paying special attention to
the peach coloured roses, which
were her passion.
Tom Sander, vicar of St Leon-
Suspect held
over death of
grandmother
who tended
church roses
Village shattered by
almshouse murder
THE body of a 71-year-old
churchgoer has been found in
an almshouse home in a quiet
village – and a man arrested on
suspicion of murder.
Villagers in Flamstead, Hertford-
shire, expressed shock at the death
of Christine Ford, a popular figure
with a passion for roses who tended
the gardens of the local church.
She was found with ‘fatal injuries’
when police broke down the door of an
almshouse property neighbouring hers
after her family were unable to contact
her at the weekend. They then issued a
Investigation: Police officers at the almshouse yesterday. Inset: Brian Coote
Injuries: Christine Ford, 71, had a passion for flowers‘We are all
in shock’
By Christian Gysin
and Arthur Martin
ard’s church, 100 yards from Mrs
Ford’s home, said of the former
hairdresser and carer: ‘She would
attend church and help with the
flowers inside, but regularly looked
after the roses in the churchyard.
She was a very keen gardener and
a very nice person.
‘When you met her, you came
away afterwards feeling better for
having seen and spoken to her –
she was that sort of person.’
The church is holding a two-hour
vigil for Mrs Ford tonight so villag-
ers can lay flowers and light can-
dles in her memory.
The almshouse in which she lived
was built in the 1600s and is run by
a trust. Such homes are tradition-
ally given to people who have local
connections to a village and who
may have fallen on difficult times.Mr Coote had moved into his one-
bedroom almshouse home after
the death of his mother, with whom
he had lived in the village for many
years. He was apparently made
homeless after his family home was
repossessed and slept in his car
before moving into the almshouse.rice, 59, who works as a teaching
assistant at the local school, said:
‘I am trying to come to terms with
what happened. I know her grand-
children and they adored Chrissy.
The whole village is in shock.’
Mrs Ford’s body was found
shortly before 8pm on Saturday
after a call was made to police.
A spokesman said: ‘Officers
forced entry to an address where
they sadly discovered the 71-year-
old’s body. She had suffered fatal
injuries and was pronounced dead
at the scene.’ A post-mortem was
due to take place yesterday.
The almshouses are run by the
Saunders Sebright trust, which
takes its name from a wealthy
family who had them built in the
1600s for people who had fallen on
hard times.Villager Gayle Firmin said: ‘I
think he had been working as
a mechanic but I didn’t really
know him. Nobody can believe
what has happened.’
Mrs Ford’s best friend Carole
Morris, 65, said she was ‘a lovely
person’ and she could not believe
she had been murdered. Sally Mor-Let human
rights body
fine firms
over equal
pay – MPs