Friends launch fund for OAP dumped by wife

Shocked friends of the pensioner who was dumped at a hospital by his wife are creating a fund to help pay for his care.

Ken Baker, 82, was abandoned at Oldchurch Hospital in Romford on 25 October by his wife Barbara, who left a note saying she could not cope. The couple had moved to Spain two years ago, soon after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Mrs Baker, 62, his third wife, says she was forced to act out of "sheer desperation", adding that he was prone to "violent outbursts".

Today their friend Roy Tyzack, 57, said he and others were rallying around to pay for care. He added: "Ken is a real gentleman and this has been incredibly distressing news for all us.

"He has hundreds of friends and we will all club together to help him out. We want to make sure that he is able to get out of the old people's home for day trips and that we can pay for a nurse to provide him with round-theclock care."

Mr Tyzack, a policeman, and his wife stayed with the Bakers at their apartment in Alicante two years ago and he remembers seeing the early signs of Alzheimer's take hold.

"He seemed confused and forgetful and would panic if he left the apartment sometimes," he said. "But for Barbara to do this means his condition must have deteriorated dramatically. I am surprised Barbara didn't contact me. Maybe she didn't want to burden us." Meanwhile, Mr Baker's children from his second marriage today attacked his wife for the "despicable" way she had treated him, claiming she had changed her phone number so she could no longer be contacted.

"I am appalled and disgusted by what Barbara has done," said Michelle Baker, 39, a PR consultant from Tunbridge Wells. "There are lots of ways she could have handled the situation. Instead she chose the most undignified thing you can do to a human being - abandoning him. You wouldn't do that to a dog. My dad is a dignified man who deserves to live out the twilight of his years in peace." Mr Baker's

son Kenny, 34, who visited him yesterday with his five-year-old son Lewis, said: "I'm angry, upset and disgusted at what Barbara has done. She could have made a phone call to say what the problem was but to just drop him off at hospital was despicable. My dad was a giant, proud man. She has taken his pride from him."

Friends and neighbours described Mr Baker as a charming man with a passion for light aircraft and fast cars. A decorated Second World War pilot, he delivered medical supplies to the front line. He married his first wife Pamela in 1951 and started an engineering company before going on to race E-type Jaguars, winning 17 times in one season.

In 1963 he married his second wife, Lorraine, and they had four children - Michelle, Kimberley, Kenny and Tristan. They divorced in 1980 and he married Barbara in 1991.

Mr Baker is a former landlord of the Green Man pub in Navestock, near Brentwood, where the present licensee, Bill Major, 57, has set up a "Ken Baker fund". He said: "Ken is one of the last great publicans. We will do anything we can to help him get better."