Accounts of the abuse of older people, given to the authors by people working in social services, included the following:
"This woman was in Casualty last week. She presented with lacerations. She was a widow who lived with her son.
"She disclosed that he abused her, assaulted her recently. In the past she lived with another son who was also abusive, as was her husband until he died. Her son drinks.
"She had a laceration to her shin. She said that he had kicked her. She was 72. She also claimed that one night she was tired and did not want to go upstairs and she lay on the couch and he lay on top of her and kissed her and she was ashamed."
"I worked with a couple some years ago. This couple were in their early 70s. They described how they would go to bed at night fully dressed, shoes and all on them, so that they could make a hasty escape."
"A niece came to live with an elderly person. She extended and renovated the house and it greatly increased in value. Then she wanted the deeds of the house. The old lady developed a problem with incontinence.
"A cycle of abuse started. One day she would beat her and the next day she would become very caring and concerned . . . the pressure was huge on her not to say anything when she was in hospital. Her niece literally lifted her out of the hospital, bundled her up one day and took her home."
"The other case I came across was a mother made to sell her house and put the money into buying a bigger house. Her accommodation was a bedroom upstairs.
"As soon as she could not do the stairs she was put into long-term care and all her money was gone."
"Joint tenant purchasing schemes in local authority houses: because exploitation of the older people was so common the corporation won't now agree to such arrangements. Older people were left in one room and not allowed access . . . in one situation a man was left in one room and it was freezing. The rest of the house was OK."
(A private nursing home): "The patients were badly cared for - tied into chairs. It was indescribable. It was fierce. It was going on for so long.
"There was one old lady and she was 90. She was very nice. She said that all her stuff was going missing, that the proprietor had hit her, that she could not get her Bible. We investigated and it was correct. Her stuff had been out in the shed."