Coronavirus: Tilehurst widower urges people to stay at home

Allen and Jenny Pattrick celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in September

A widower whose wife of 50 years died with coronavirus posted letters to his neighbours urging them to stay at home.

Jenny Pattrick, 79, died on 31 March at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Her husband Allen, from Tilehurst, said he did not want sympathy following his loss but that it would "shatter" him if people did not adhere to guidelines.

The great-grandparents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in September.

Mr Pattrick, 75, said: "I wanted to tell [neighbours] what had transpired and why I thought there was a message to give to them.

"I know people deal with grief in different ways. I don't want sympathy. I have instead got my memories of over 50 years of marriage and that really does for me. I just want those memories to be kept alive."

He said it would "shatter" him if "people in my locality - perhaps because they're not that careful or just not thinking - might endanger themselves and everyone else and that coronavirus might claim others".

Mr Pattrick, with his daughter Helen and Jenny, said people must stick to government guidelines

The couple's daughter Helen Pattrick said doctors allowed Mr Pattrick to stay with her mother before she died while she had to wait in the hospital car park.

Ms Pattrick, who works for the NHS as an administrator at a surgery in Reading, said: "We are a very private family but this coronavirus is just ruthless.

"It doesn't care. It is very, very scary but people have been taking it for granted, saying 'nothing will happen to me'."

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