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On Tuesday Tony Stowell from Hull, Yorkshire, tweeted: “I have started legal proceedings against my mum’s care home – Rose Villa Nursing Home in Hull – and Matt Hancock must be held accountable. My mum was murdered.”

Stowell’s mother died in a care home in May 2020.  The care home failed to tell Stowell his mum was gravely ill. With no warning, the care home “invited us in to watch our mum die. We didn’t even know she was ill,” Stowell said.

Stowell has accused a care home of putting his mother on end-of-life care without his family’s consent during the covid pandemic.  His mother suffered from dementia and didn’t have the mental capacity to make such a decision. The care home made the decision, without reference to the family, to give his mum end-of-life drugs.  Stowell would not have made that decision if he had been asked. 

After arriving at the care home to “watch his mum die”, Stowell took her to the hospital. The attending doctor asked him “Who put your mum on end-of-life?”  He didn’t know because he didn’t know she was on end-of-life drugs.  That’s when he realised that his mum must have been put on end-of-life drugs days before.  End-of-life drugs which included midazolam.   The morning after she was admitted to hospital his mum passed away.

When he went public with his story, he was placed on a court order, along with many members of his family.  This hasn’t stopped him from fighting to get justice for his mum.

Below, Fred and Richard Fairbrass of the English pop band Right Said Fred briefly explain Stowell’s story.

I’m sharing this again from @TheFreds @RichardFairbra9 could I ask everyone to share this footage please. This is what happened to me for speaking out to help my mum! Placed on a #courtorder #GaggingOrder @ABridgen please would you share. Let’s get this viral #viral pic.twitter.com/PRbdD7R7Dj

— Tony Stowell (@TonyStowell3) May 22, 2023

A few months ago, Stowell told his heart-breaking story on GB News.

Further resources: GB News: Matt Hancock said “take your mask off, it’s not needed” while he was Health Secretary | Tony Stowell (video, 8 mins), 1 March 2023

In a rare moment of journalism, the BBC picked up the story in January 2023.  As a prelude to legal action, the BBC reported, Mr. Stowell’s lawyers have obtained his mother’s hospital records which, they say, show she was diagnosed with suspected pneumonia while living in the home. End-of-life drugs were then prescribed and ordered by medical professionals.

Stowell’s lawyers, Gulbenkian Andonian solicitors, said his mother’s hospital records reveal the decision to put her on end-of-life care was made two days before the family was told.

Mrs. Stowell’s death certificate said she died from Covid and dementia, the BBC wrote.

On 26 January, Stowell tweeted: “I’m arranging to meet up with Matt Hancock again … now my case has gone legal and a pre-action letter has now been sent to the care home.”  The next day he tweeted: “Legal action has now started. Pre-action draft has been sent. Matt Hancock ordered end-of-life drugs to give stealthily to care home residents and I lost my beautiful mum. I will now stay quiet and I’m getting offers from all media outlets.”

In early February, the Express picked up the story that Stowell was suing the care home for putting his 87-year-old mother on end-of-life care without her family being told. 

Fadi Farhat, a human rights lawyer from Gulbenkian Andonian solicitors who is leading the case, said he has been contacted by many families who say end-of-life decisions were made without their consent or consultation.   “The case of Antonia Stowell is definitely part of a wider national problem and we have been contacted by scores of families about loved ones being put on end-of-life care or given DNR orders from different parts of the country,” Farhat said.

In April 2023, Stowell’s story was documented in an Ickonic Media Group film titled ‘Killed by the State? A son’s quest for justice’.  It is a documentary highlighting what goes on in hospitals and care homes when families are excluded.

You can read more about the documentary on page 11 of this month’s issue of The Light HERE, a British independent newspaper founded in 2020.   To read back issues of The Light, visit The Light Paper’s website HERE.

If the trailer above is removed from YouTube you can watch it on Rumble HERE.

On 20 April, Stowell replied to a tweet confirming that his mom had been put on the death row drug midazolam.

This is what happened to my beautiful mum in #RoseVillaNursingHome in #Hull. It’s murder. I have now started legal proceedings. Legally represented by @GA_Solicitors share the hell out of this. @ABridgen need your support on this movement to get @MattHancock to the #HighCourt pic.twitter.com/BOcSaqHk4M

— Tony Stowell (@TonyStowell3) April 20, 2023

On 23 April, Stowell tweeted: “Now Matt Hancock refuses to meet me!!!! I wonder why??”

On Tuesday Stowell tweeted: “I have started legal proceedings against my mum’s care home – Rose Villa Nursing Home in Hull – and Matt Hancock must be held accountable. My mum was murdered. Legally represented by Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors and Andrew Bridgen is fully supporting.”

The next day Stowell tweeted: “In London today meeting my legal team from Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors legal action is happening and let’s just say I finally feel at peace as I’ve proven everything.”

In London today meeting my legal team from @GA_Solicitors legal action is happening and let’s just say I finally feel at peace as I’ve proven everything. Enjoying a coffee and a walk in London. #HighCourt #AntoniasLaw. #carehome #midazolam @GBNEWS @danwootton SHARE. pic.twitter.com/mXx14mpS4B

— Tony Stowell (@TonyStowell3) May 31, 2023

Campaign To Allow CCTV In Rooms of Care Homes

Mrs. Stowell moved into a care home in 2012.  Over the coming years, she moved a few times and lived in six different care homes in total. “I saw my mom abused and neglected in all of them,” Stowell told GB News.

One day, Tony arrived to find his mum sitting in a wheelchair with no shoes or socks on, her feet just dangling. Tony found a shiny, perfect circle on the back of his Mum’s foot, which – when he consulted his local clinic – was revealed to be a Grade 4 ulcer.

 “Grade 4 is amputation level. That’s the highest form of neglect,” Stowell told social commentator Dominique Samuels. When an ulcer starts, it starts from inside and works its way out, which meant the neglect had been lengthy. This sowed the seed for Tony to start a campaign for CCTVs in care homes.

For many years now, Stowell has tirelessly fought to raise awareness to, at least, allow family members to install CCTV in care homes to safeguard elderly people living in residential accommodation.

In February 2020, Stowell’s already three-year-long-campaign, began gaining support in the UK parliament when an early day motion (“EDM”) was published.  Originally Stowell had campaigned to make cameras mandatory in care homes, but the EDM would instead look to give family members the option of putting cameras in the rooms of relatives – something that is currently not a legal right.

After losing his mum a few months later, he updated his campaign page and wrote: “My campaign is now in honour of my beautiful mum Antonia. #AntoniasLaw”

In October 2020, Stowell met with the former health secretary Matt Hancock with the aim of garnering support for his campaign in parliament.  Stowell said he received a positive response.

According to a GB News report, a petition was expected to be brought to parliament in early July 2021, but some people had raised concerns the move could lead to a flood of legal claims.  It appears the petition was not brought to parliament as hoped.

In March 2023 Stowell updated his campaign on GoFundMe with the comment: “Legal action has now started.”

Further resources: Care home CCTV campaign to safeguard residents, GoFundMe page by Tony Stowell