We had a few issues with the media following Emma’s passing. A lot of newspapers, both local and national and also TV channels including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all wanted information, photos and to interview me. This was following a request through the GoFundMe page to place a small obituary piece in the local newspaper which I agreed to.
It then ended up in the national papers and then in papers in Ireland, Scotland and even one in Australia. It was also picked up by MSN and Yahoo news websites.
I then found a picture of us on the front page of the Manchester Evening News. I was having journalists trying to add me on Facebook and Twitter and one (I won’t say where from) even contacted Connor’s school.
Some of the more morally corrupt journalists even took comments and photos from friends and family on Twitter and Facebook and published them without permission. But as they were public, they didn’t need permission. Quick tip – make sure your Facebook is not set to Public anywhere and be careful who is following you on Twitter!
It had gotten completely out of control. I ended up having to ignore them all and blocking them, eventually, they got bored and it stopped. I can now quite definitely say that I will never speak to any journalist again!
However, I thought I would add the ones that we agreed to and had full knowledge of.
Redditch Advertiser
This is a link to the notice of death in the local Redditch newspaper.
Birmingham Mail
This is the story that we agreed to. Partly to tell Emma’s story but they sold it to us on the premise of showing the public that COVID-19 IS real and it IS devastating families just like ours.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/tragedy-mum-38-dies-covid-19647790
The Gazette
If you don’t know what The Gazette is, it’s like the national record of everything. It is the Crown’s official newspaper. It’s the noticeboard for all deaths, insolvencies, public notices and much more.
Although not a legal requirement, in the case of a death, it gives any potential creditors a notice that a death has occurred and if they are owed money from that person, they can then make a claim against the deceased estate.
It also gives proof to the HMRC that the Administrator or Executor of the deceased estate has carried out all means possible to pay anyone owed money from the estate.
Once a notice has been in The Gazette for 2 months and 1 day, the Administrator or Executor of the estate can submit the notice to HMRC and the estate can be closed. This is when inheritance tax is worked out (if required and based on what assets are left in the estate) and no one can make any further claim against the estate.
Below is the notice that I placed in The Gazette for Emma on 11th February 2021.