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Rex
UK News

Calls for "Olive's Law" after suicide of UK's oldest poppy seller

by Desmond Busteed

Her body was found in the Avon Gorge in Bristol last Wednesday after onlookers saw her climb over the railings with the help of a stepladder.

According to her family and friends, she was driven to her death partly because she was "exhausted" by the constant demands of cold calls and direct mail from charities, many of which she had supported over the years.

Now the Government is being urged to take action, by introducing a so called "Olive's Law".

Labour MP for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy said: "We don't want to impede charities in their efforts to raise much-needed support but if a law change is needed to stop vulnerable people like Olive being harassed, then so be it.

People who give out of the goodness of their heart deserve better treatment. If they stop giving, it's reasonable for a charity to call and ask would they reconsider but no more," she added, according to the Sun.

A friend said she had been "under pressure" but also suffered ill health.

"Really in the end she got tormented to the end, with not only just her illness but the letters and the phone calls." said Mr Earley to Premier.

She would look at the phone in "terror," he said, and by the end refused to pick it up because she was so fearful it would be another charity begging for money.

"I'm putting it down a lot in the end to do with the charities, because Olive would always speak to people on the phone," he added.

Mrs Cooke's daughter Kathryn told the Bristol Post that while there were issues about the number of letters from charities her mother received, "they are not the reason this has happened".

The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) Standards Committee said it will bring together representatives from across the charity sector to review the case.

 
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