The Times - UK (2022-04-05)

the times | Tuesday April 5 2022 2GM 5

News

play music in the house. The former

Beatle’s younger brother Mike said: “I

hope some of the magic rubs off on

them.”

The National Trust took over the

property 30 years ago and used pictures

taken by Mike to return it to exactly the

way it looked when they were growing

up there.

Mike, who went on to perform in the

Scaffold, was given a drum kit and a

banjo by his father while his brother

was given a guitar and began inviting

Lennon round to create music.

Colin Hall, a historian, said: “The liv-

ing room at Forthlin Road is the cruci-

ble where the Lennon-McCartney

songwriting partnership was nurtured

and began, that’s where it took wings.”

Priory hospital

failed son who

fled and died,

his father says

the family had begun a frantic search

after Matthew was reported missing.

When his father called the hospital

hours later, a staff member said:

“People abscond all the time... drink,

drugs, to meet friends. They usually

come back.”

Caseby, a former director of commu-

nications at the Department for Work

and Pensions and managing editor of

The Sunday Times, said the family was

“gobsmacked” after learning that Matt-

hew had gone missing.

He travelled to Birmingham with his

eldest daughter Rebecca to search for

his son. He was left in disbelief after he

flagged down three police officers with-

in a mile of the Priory hospital who said

they were not looking for Matthew.

He later found out that West Mid-

lands police had initially classified the

case as medium risk. CID officers on

duty the next morning “realised the

mistake that had been made”, and esca-

lated it to high risk. “By that time 14

hours had been lost and Matthew was

dead two hours later,” his father said.

Dr Arshad Mahmood, a psychiatrist

at Woodbourne Hospital, had assured

him that his son was a low suicide risk.

The inquest was told that Matthew

was a “sensitive soul” and a talented

footballer. He developed an interest in

fitness and nutrition while studying at

Birmingham University, qualifying as a

personal trainer after achieving a first

in history.

In August 2018, he began counselling.

His counsellor Gillian Carmichael told

Louise Hunt, the coroner, that he was

experiencing “relational difficulties

with his family”. She said that he could

be “socially anxious and isolated”.

Matthew returned to London at the

beginning of 2020 for work interviews.

He was sectioned under the Mental

Health Act a week after sharing an

“affectionate call” with his mother on

August 27, 2020, that raised no con-

cerns. His father said: “We cannot

understand how a young man like

Matthew slipped through the fingers of

his warm and loving family.”

The inquest continues.

Mario Ledwith

W

hen

Sharon

Nesmith

joined the

army in

1992, 80 per cent of

positions were barred to

women (Larisa Brown

writes). She was initially

forced to sign a document

acknowledging she would

have to leave the army if

she became pregnant.

Now Major General

Nesmith will become the

service’s highest-ranked

female officer in its

history. She is taking up

the post of the new

deputy chief of the

general staff in August.

She will be promoted to

lieutenant general, the

first woman to hold the

three-star rank, the

second highest used

within the military.

Her appointment has

been approved by the

Queen.

Nesmith, 51, a mother

of two from

Northumberland, who is

married to a tree

surgeon, was

commissioned into the

Royal Corps of Signals

30 years ago.

She was also the first

woman to command a

brigade, presiding over

1,500 troops in 1st Signal

Brigade, in a career that

has included operational

tours in the Balkans and

Iraq.

She said: “I feel deeply

honoured to be appointed

... at such a pivotal time
for the British Army. I
look forward to playing
my part in leading our
future soldier
transformation to
become a more lethal,
agile, digitised and
expeditionary force.”
She will serve as deputy
to General Sir Mark
Carleton-Smith, chief of
the general staff, the
professional head of the
army.
She will be the first
woman to hold the
appointment at the
army’s headquarters.
At present, she serves
as general officer
commanding army
recruitment and initial
training command.

First female

lieutenant

general joins

top brass

Major General Nesmith will

be promoted to lieutenant

general and report to

General Sir Mark Carleton-

Smith, the professional

head of the force

MjorGeneralNesmithwill

CPL REBECCA BROWN, WO2 IAN HOULDING/BRITISH ARMY

June Brown appeared in the BBC’s
EastEnders for more than 30 years

June Brown, the actress best known for
playing Dot Cotton in the BBC soap
EastEnders, has died at the age of 95.
She died on Sunday evening, the
BBC said. A spokeswoman for the
programme said: “There are not
enough words to describe how
much June was loved and adored
by everyone at EastEnders.”
The spokeswoman
added: “June created one
of the most iconic charac-
ters in Dot Cotton, not just
in soap but in British televi-
sion, and having appeared in
2,884 episodes, June’s remarkable
performances created some of

Tributes to veteran EastEnders star

EastEnders’ finest moments.” A state-

ment from Brown’s family said: “We are

deeply saddened to announce our

beloved mother, June, passed away

very peacefully at her home in Surrey

on Sunday evening, with her family

by her side.”

Brown, who had previously had a

long career in television and

theatre, arrived on Albert Square

shortly after the soap began in

1985 and, apart from a break

between 1993 and 1997, was a

regular for more than three

decades until she left the pro-

gramme in 2020.

Her role as mother to the

soap’s early villain Nick Cotton

played by John Altman, saw

her play a larger-than-life

character known for her chain-

smoking, Christian faith and hypo-

chondria. On January 31, 2008, she

single-handedly starred in an episode

called Pretty Baby, in which she spoke to

a cassette recorder about her life so that

her husband could listen to it as he lay

in hospital after a stroke. She was nomi-

nated for the best actress prize at the TV

Baftas for the episode.

Brown won several awards for her

portrayal of Dot, including a lifetime

achievement honour at the 2005 Brit-

ish Soap Awards. She was made an OBE

in December for her services to drama

and charity.

Nadine Dorries, the culture secre-

tary, described Brown as a “national

treasure” who “captured the zeitgeist”.

The actress Milly Zero, who played

Brown’s on-screen granddaughter, said:

“I have never met anyone who cared

about their craft so deeply.”

Obituary, page 53

Lianne Kolirin

McCartney’s home will be

opened up to musicians

The home where Sir Paul McCartney

and John Lennon’s songwriting part-

nership began is set to open its doors to

a new generation of aspiring musicians.

The terraced house on Forthlin Road

in Allerton, Liverpool, now owned by

the National Trust, was McCartney’s

childhood home.

Its living room was described by one

historian as “the crucible” of the Len-

non-McCartney partnership, where

hits including I Saw Her Standing There

and Love Me Do were written.

To mark McCartney’s 80th birthday

in June, and the 60th anniversary of the

Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do in Oc-

tober, the National Trust is launching

The Forthlin Sessions, which will give

unsigned artists the chance to write and

A personal trainer who was found dead
after absconding from a Priory Group
hospital was failed by the private
healthcare provider and the NHS, his
father said.
Richard Caseby told an inquest that
the company’s failure to adequately
care for his son had led to “catastrophic
consequences”.
Matthew Caseby, a 23-year-old
history graduate who had been living in
London and was in the process of start-
ing his own fitness venture, was admit-
ted to hospital in September 2020 after
suffering a psychotic episode.
He was initially detained under the
Mental Health Act having been spotted
running near train tracks and acting
erratically in Islip near Oxford.
NHS staff sent him more than 80

miles away to the Priory Hospital
Woodbourne in Birmingham despite
relatives “begging” for him to be
allowed to remain closer to the family
home.
During his two days at the Priory,
amid concerns about his vulnerable
mental state, he tried to abscond on
several occasions.
He eventually fled on September 7
and his body was found the next day. He
had suffered catastrophic injuries after
being hit by a train.
His father, 61, said: “The Wood-
bourne Priory Hospital and the
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s
NHS Foundation Trust had a basic
legal duty under the Mental Health Act
to keep our son safe and secure.
“They did not. There have been cata-
strophic consequences for me, my wife
and our two daughters.”
Birmingham coroner’s court was told

Matthew Caseby

vanished from

hospital leaving

his family frantic