October 22, 2019 4.07 pm This story is over 52 months old

Heartbreaking plea to check on elderly neighbours after woman’s fears come true

“I didn’t even know his name until he was gone”

A Lincoln woman has made a heartbreaking plea for people to check in on the elderly and vulnerable people on their street after she found out that her elderly neighbour had died alone.

Julianne Billinger, who lives in the Birchwood area, felt compelled to call the police after she hadn’t seen her neighbour for a week.

She said that the man, who was in his late 70s, had no regular visitors and normally left the house every couple of days.

The police arrived on Friday, October 18 and, after 40 minutes, told Julianne the tragic news that he had died and it was believed he had been there for a while. She was asked to identify him.

“All I am asking is to spread the word to look out for lonely elderly people,” Julianne told The Lincolnite.

“It saddens me to think no one had checked up on him until I called the police on a hunch.

“I didn’t even know his name until he was gone. I really think that no one should be found like that.”

There are over one million chronically lonely older people in the country, according to research by Age UK released in 2016.