Better protection needed for elderly

ELDERLY people living on their own should be visited regularly by army reserves to check on their situation, the interior minister has recommended.

Brice Hortefeux has called for better measures to protect old people from violence and tougher sanctions after a couple, in their late seventies, were killed by an intruder at their home in Pont-Sainte-Maxence in the Oise last week.

The retired couple - who had lived in the house for more than 20 years - were found with multiple stab wounds.

Hortefeux has proposed launching an Opération Tranquillité Seniors - similar to the Opération Tranquillité Vacances where police carry out checks on empty holiday homes.

The project would hire army reserves to make regular visits to vulnerable and isolated old people to check on them.

Mr Hortefeux has also called for local police to be given more information whenever a criminal with a history of violence against elderly people is freed from prison.

"People's life expectancy is growing," the minister said. "Our mission is to protect these elderly people. We have a real challenge: for me it's become an obsession."

Justice Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie said it would be wrong to introduce harsher penalties for those who attack the elderly, because the law should be consistent.

Former Socialist Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant agreed. He asked: "Is attacking an elderly person worse than attacking a disabled person in their forties?"

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