Swindon widow left with a mountain of debt (From This Is Wiltshire)

Swindon widow left with a mountain of debt

9:05am Thursday 13th November 2008

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Widow Janet Bailey, whose husband died of a sudden stroke, says is being forced to sell their home after discovering he had secretly racked up £50,000 of debt.

Mrs Bailey had no idea Roger, her husband of 29 years, had been hauled into court six times over his mountain of debt.

It was only when she cleared out his car that she found a hoard of unpaid bills and documents stashed in the glove box.

Mrs Bailey, 62, who works at New College in Swindon, has lived at Matley Moor in Liden with her husband and son Darryl, 28, for nearly 24 years. She said: “When my husband died, I had to sell his car and in the glove compartment I found some letters.

“Then when we cleared out the garage ready to put the house up for sale, we found bags and bags of letters.

“I felt quite angry at first and then I felt quite sad because I had no idea he had this going on.

“I think the main reason he did it was because he was trying to protect me.

“Now I wish he had told me, because we could have sat down and talked it through. If we had to sell the house 20 years ago we would have, it’s only a house.”

He had secretly amassed £48,000 of debt – over £25,000 in bank loans, £9,000 in unpaid taxes, £7,000 on credit cards and £4,000 in mortgage arrears.

Roger did not have life insurance and devastated Mrs Bailey is now being forced to sell the family home.

She said: “We were married for 29 years, and I feel like I’ve been married to a man that I didn’t even know.

“He used to pay the bills, and as far as I knew he was paying them all. I think that he wasn’t getting as much work as he let on but tried to keep everything going.

Roger worked as a self-employed carpenter and told Mrs Bailey he was bringing in £700 to £800 per week.

“I thought he was bringing in a salary of up to £800 per week because he did a lot of work on executive houses and building projects,” she said.

“But since he’s passed away some of the neighbours have said that they saw him home sometimes during the day, when I was at work and wouldn’t have known.”

Mr Bailey died aged 59 on August 24 of a sudden stroke while getting ready for work.

His wife is only liable for £16,000 of the debt – in arrears to the utility companies and some of the loans – because the rest were solely in her husband’s name.

Because of the property slump, she has reduced the asking price for their three-bed detached home.

“I originally had the house on the market for £220,000, but I’ve had to drop it to £180,000 in the hopes that it will sell, considering the market,” she said.

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