Covid devastated families say Matt Hancock WhatsApp sends 'twisted knife' into wounds

Already grieving the loss of their loved ones in care homes, relatives of Covid victims told tonight how Matt Hancock's explosive texts about testing only deepened their wounds.

And one called for a police investigation into claims the former health secretary rejected medical advice to check everyone entering homes, not just those in hospitals.

In a series of leaked WhatsApp messages dating back to the start of the pandemic, Mr Hancock said top doctor Chris Whitty's advice is "muddying the waters".

Bereaved parents have told of their fury. Matt Forest, 54, from Doncaster, South Yorks, whose mother Kaye died aged 89 on May 26, 2020, said of the ex-minister: 'He betrayed my mum. It reopens the wounds and it's just heartbreaking. They twist the knife in our wounds."

Kaye Forrest was 89 when she died in a nursing home (

Picture:

Collect unknown)

Lindsay Jackson, from Derbyshire, lost her mother Sylvia, 87, in a care home on April 17, 2020.

Now a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, she said: 'The consequences of this could not be more horrific and there must be an immediate and serious police investigation.

Jenny Widdowson, 61, from Staffordshire, said that before her mother Olive Soutar died in a Devon nursing home aged 90 in November 2021, they wasted nine months with her because that families were kept apart. She added, "It doesn't surprise me in the least that Matt Hancock lied and lied again."

Independent Care Group Chairman Mike Padgham said: 'On the face of it, these messages appear to reveal a tragic betrayal of those most vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sylvia Jackson has died aged 87

Resident Rights Diane Mayhew, 57, said: "It's despicable. Just when you think you can't be more shocked, something else comes out.

"So much trauma could have been avoided and those who made these ruthless decisions should take responsibility."

Care home bosses have also expressed anger over Mr Hancock's messages, which were leaked to the Telegraph by Isabel Oakeshott, a journalist who wrote her memoir on the pandemic. She claimed tonight that the Tory MP sent her a 'threatening message' after the texts were published.