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Found, the sister who was locked away for 70 years when she was wrongly accused of stealing 12p
Last updated at 23:37pm on 28.09.07At the age of only 15, Jean Gambell was locked away for supposedly stealing the equivalent of 12 1/2p from the doctor's surgery where she worked as a cleaner.
She was later found to be innocent, but by that time she had been condemned as 'feeble-minded' and lost in the system.
Two brothers born after her incarceration were convinced she must have died long ago. But now, an astonishing 70 years after she was sent away, the family have held an emotional reunion.
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Family reunion: Jean Gambell, 85, with brothers David and Edgar
"It was a special moment and one that will live with me for ever," said her brother David, 63.
Jean, who lived on the Wirral, was ordered to be detained indefinitely in Cranage Hall, Crewe, after the money - half a crown - went missing from the surgery in 1937.
Allegations of theft led doctors to describe her as 'of feeble mind'.
The money was eventually found but by then it was too late. David said: "Nowadays there are reviews and appeals, but back then a doctor could sign away a life with the stroke of a pen - it's a terrible waste."
The two brothers were allowed to visit her over the years but she was subsequently moved to numerous care homes across the North-West, making it hard for them to stay in touch.
And when David and his elder brother Alan lost their mother 25 years ago, the final link to their sister was lost.
In June this year, however, David, who still lives in his mother's old home, received a questionnaire sent by a care home which was addressed to her.
Thinking it was simply an advertising pamphlet, he was about to throw it away when he saw his sister's name in tiny writing on the top corner of the page.
He rang the care home - Warwick Mews in Macclesfield - and was told straight away that Jean was there.
"It was a pretty emotional moment," he said. "I called the rest of my family and they were as stunned as I was.
"We had no idea that our sister, who had been lost to the system before I was born, was still alive."
David and 66-year-old Alan, who both live on the Wirral, made arrangements to visit Jean but were warned by staff at the home warned them that she was deaf and might not remember them.
David said: "We were very nervous. We had a bunch of flowers and wrote on a piece of card, 'Hello Jean, we're your brothers.'
"They brought her in and she took one look at us and said, 'Hello Alan, hello David', and flung her arms around us.
"Jean even thanked us for the flowers and the presents we gave her. It's incredible, after all this time there was no hint of bitterness."
Two weeks after their visit in July, Jean suffered a stroke, thought to have been caused by the emotional stress of the reunion.
She is receiving treatment in a heart ward in a Macclesfield hospital and is making good progress.
"After she suffered the stroke Alan blamed himself for causing it," said David. "But I think we would have felt worse if we had discovered our sister was still alive and had done nothing to try and see her again."
Alan's memories of his sister are from visiting times at care homes when he was a child.
"We were not even born in 1937 when Jean was put away but I do remember her being brought to us by two wardens when we were young," he said.
"Soon though, we lost contact. We have now found out that Jean had tried to explain what had happened to staff at various institutions, but the things she was saying to the staff had been dismissed as figments of her imagination.
"We now know she was telling the truth. The old Victorian house she claimed to have lived in did exist.
"But when officials went to find it, all they saw was a 1960s apartment block. Our old family home had been bulldozed - but it was there once."
A spokesman for Cheshire County Council said the case was being investigated.
Reader views (4)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I'd like to know who made the false accusation. Are there people alive who can be held accountable for this horror?
- John Farrell, Brooklyn
Uh... doesn't this imply that there may be many others like her? Why isn't there a review?
- Ashley George, Halifax, NS, Canada
Jean's story is not unique at all. I worked in Leavesden Hospital in the 1980's and there are many stories I could tell you about the forgotten patients who had spent most of their lives in this hospital due to committing a small crime when they were young. One man had spent over forty five years in this hospital...his crime taking someone's pushbike. Also many of the single women were put away for getting themselves pregnant.Thank god times have changed
- Chris Nightingale, Watford, Herts
17°c
