I knew mum was worried about fuel bills but had no idea she'd cancelled her pension

COST OF LIVING CRISIS: FAMILY TELL OF MUM'S STRESS ON BILLS

- JOHN SIDDLE

THE SON of a tragic hospital cleaner today tells how she cashed in her NHS pension to pay a rocketing electricity bill just two months before she died of Covid last week.

Mum-of-three Judith Thorpe, 49, did so in desperation to protect her two teenage daughters from worrying about family finances during the cost-of-living crisis - and to make sure they had new school shoes and jumpers.

But now her heartbreaking decision has left her girls without a mum and penniless. Because the family will miss out on a potential £30,000 of death in membership benefits - all because of a fuel bill that more than doubled from £45 to £110 a month.

Now orphaned Hannah, 16, and Scarlett, 13-whose dad John Lydon died of cancer in 2015 are being cared for by their 24-year-old half-brother Lewis and his partner. Lewis says he had no idea his mother had cancelled her pension in May to get just £210 paid back after fees from £362 contributions she had put in from her £10-an-hour £14,500/year salary since November.

The family have now been told that they won't be getting the death in membership benefit - around double her salary - because she had left the scheme. Judith, of Longbenton, North Tyneside, fell ill with Covid last Saturday, but had a seizure and was rushed to hospital.

She was put into intensive care but diagnosed as brain dead. Her family took the decision to withdraw life support on Wednesday.