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'I must have been in some sort of shock so I just left him for a while'(a follow up)
Telegragh ^ | 2/8/04

Posted on 02/07/2004 6:52:53 PM PST by mylife

'I must have been in some sort of shock so I just left him for a while'

(Filed: 08/02/2004)

The man who shared a home with his dead brother for 18 months says he is "not bonkers" and has just been misunderstood. Charlotte Edwardes reports

Herbert Silver presents a dog-eared photograph of his brother Ted as he tries to explain the horrifying moment when he discovered his sibling lying dead - in a skeletal state - in his room in their shared trailer home shortly before Christmas - apparently up to 18 months after he had died.

"The truth is, Ted stayed in bed because of his iron deficiency. It was very bad. He used to like a good old snore and I just left him to it. I think I just left him to it a bit too long that time," he says.

'Ted' and Herbert Silver When he finally summoned the courage to check on his brother, Mr Silver says, he knew that something was gravely wrong: "I opened the door and looked in there and he looked well was there a smell ?" he falters and puts his head in his hands.

"It wasn't very nice and I shut the door, I came back in here and I stood by the fire. The penny might have dropped but then I felt traumatised.

"I must have been in some sort of shock so I just left him for a while. I just didn't believe it."

It certainly sounds macabre: a 72-year-old man spending his days watching television while his 76-year-old brother's "skeletal" corpse lies in the next room. After police arrived, Mr Silver made matters worse by shouting: "I'm not my brother's keeper."

Although the cause and time of death have yet to be definitely established, a post mortem examination reportedly indicated that Ted had died of natural causes up to 18 months before his body was discovered.

Today, however, Mr Silver wants to explain. "I admit it was a while," he says, "but I was traumatised: I was in denial - I wanted him to still be here. I might have left him a couple of days and then I think I might have realised. Out of shock I didn't want to confront it. I can't remember how long it was.

"Now I want to put things right, explain to people who have misunderstood," he says. "I am not bonkers, I grew up with my brother, I miss him terribly.

"They said that I left him for 18 months, but it wasn't," he adds anxiously.

"Nobody in the world would leave a bloke dead in the back room that long, that would be off the wall. They made it sound like I'd done it on purpose."

Mr Silver is sitting in a pair of shorts in his over-heated front room in Blissford, Hampshire, surrounded by junk from car boot sales; press cuttings are strewn about the floor along with Gracie Fields records and unopened bills. His brother's fishing equipment still stands by the front door. The faint musty smell of antique shops pervades the home, mingled with the metallic odour of a gas fire.

Unfortunately, Mr Silver's case has not been helped by his eccentricity (a "Stan Laurel face" that he pulls for photographs is more like Worzel Gummidge) or by his reclusive behaviour.

The family of three unmarried siblings moved to the village, near Fordingbridge, from Kent 12 years ago, George, known as Ted, and sister Dorothy (Dot) essentially playing parents to the youngest, Bert.

After Dot died, the brothers remained in the three-bedroom home, sharing everything from the car to a bank account, into which their pensions were deposited automatically. Ted cooked while Bert bought and sold for profit at car boot sales.

Ted, a keen angler, suffered from pernicious anaemia which, according to Mr Silver, could make him bad-tempered and frequently kept him in bed.

His bedroom adjoined the sitting room, but Mr Silver knew not to disturb him: "When I knew he was a bit sore I would keep a low profile," he says. "He could go crackers sometimes, but I knew how to deal with him," he adds.

"He was a very straight-talking man. He didn't like people and would tell them to buzz off in no uncertain terms. You couldn't take him anywhere. He didn't suffer fools gladly, oh my goodness, no. You didn't rub Ted up the wrong way, no." He whistles at the thought.

The pair were separated once in their lives - by war. Mr Silver remembers it vividly: "I was evacuated to Yorkshire. It was like a horror film; I was knocked about, beaten up and abused by the boys at the school. Big blokes. Ted had always looked after me before, if I got into scrapes he was there. Then I was suddenly alone - my brother had gone into the Catering Corps."

With the end of the war the brothers were reunited and took jobs with the London Electricity Board. After the death of their parents, Dot decided that she wanted to move to the country to keep chickens and breed chihuahuas. Without hesitation, her brothers followed.

With a jolt, Mr Silver comes out of his reverie. "I have to accept that they have gone now," he says matter-of-factly.

"There is going to be an inquest on February 19, but I don't have to attend, thank goodness. The coroner said that there was too much press interest and I think that it would bring the whole thing up again. I don't know if they want me to pay back Ted's pension.

"I am the only one left now. Your mind plays funny tricks on you when you are bashed over the head with something like this.

How long had he died or how long had he been there? It's hard to say with the shock. But he didn't feel any pain, he died in his sleep."

Mr Silver pauses. "I still feel he's here all the time. I talk to him. I say, 'What do you think of that, Ted?' things like that. It just comes out."

A police spokesman said: "Our officers were called to the address in Blissford and found a decomposed body. Investigations were carried out, but did not reveal anything of a criminal nature."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
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Ted and Herbert

1 posted on 02/07/2004 6:52:54 PM PST by mylife
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To: mylife
"The truth is, Ted stayed in bed because of his iron deficiency. It was very bad. He used to like a good old snore and I just left him to it. I think I just left him to it a bit too long that time,"

NO KIDDING!!!!!
2 posted on 02/07/2004 6:55:15 PM PST by cripplecreek (.50 cal border fence)
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To: cripplecreek
I don't mean to be indelicate, but, wouldn't a week, or months old dead guy stink up the place to such an extent someone outside would smell it?

3 posted on 02/07/2004 6:59:22 PM PST by Armedanddangerous (The first rule of gunfighting is to have a gun...more than one, if possible..)
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To: Armedanddangerous
Hard to say. I used to work with a guy who smelled like he was dead all the time.
4 posted on 02/07/2004 7:02:45 PM PST by cripplecreek (.50 cal border fence)
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To: mylife
Is this for real?
5 posted on 02/07/2004 7:06:19 PM PST by Brooklyn Kid
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To: Brooklyn Kid
Oh its for real... this is the follow up to an already published report.
6 posted on 02/07/2004 7:07:29 PM PST by mylife
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To: mylife
Both their pensions were automaticly deposited into their bank accounts.
7 posted on 02/07/2004 7:10:52 PM PST by mlmr (Taxation with greedy representation is not a good thing)
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To: Brooklyn Kid
A previous report
8 posted on 02/07/2004 7:11:06 PM PST by mylife
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To: mlmr
good call
9 posted on 02/07/2004 7:11:40 PM PST by mylife
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To: mylife
I could have sworn his name in the last article was George?
10 posted on 02/07/2004 7:14:14 PM PST by nuconvert ("Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?")
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To: Darksheare
PING
11 posted on 02/07/2004 7:16:11 PM PST by Mo1 (Join the dollar a day crowd now!)
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To: dead
I think there's a rule that you have to be pinged for these.
12 posted on 02/07/2004 7:22:08 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (You can see it coming like a train on a track)
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To: glock rocks
Which one's Ted?
Which one's Herbert?

And why did they kill the fish?
13 posted on 02/07/2004 7:23:12 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (BG (Logan's Personal Mafia Hit Squad))
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To: nuconvert
your right it said George
14 posted on 02/07/2004 7:23:56 PM PST by mylife
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To: mylife
And here I thought Monty Python disbanded decades ago....
15 posted on 02/07/2004 7:26:23 PM PST by Snickersnee (Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket???)
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To: mylife
Maybe they were triplets? Uh oh.
16 posted on 02/07/2004 7:27:03 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (BG (Logan's Personal Mafia Hit Squad))
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To: mylife
Well, I feel kind of sorry for him now. Whatever his name is.
17 posted on 02/07/2004 7:28:05 PM PST by nuconvert ("Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?")
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To: mylife
Call this weird, check out "Brother's Keeper" a documentry video about the brothers in upstate rural New York.

Any time someone from the north talks about hill billies in the south, I smugly refer them here to their Yankee own. Four brothers in their 60's and 70's on their farm, all slept in the same bed and the state said what went on was way more than botherly love, and then one turned up dead.

18 posted on 02/07/2004 7:28:16 PM PST by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: mylife
He isn't the only one whose brother is a stiff.
19 posted on 02/07/2004 7:30:50 PM PST by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: mylife
Denial, short term memory loss and SS checks.

On second thought I bet the checks are all in the dead brothers accout.
20 posted on 02/07/2004 7:33:03 PM PST by Dinsdale
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