A FORMER councillor was moved to six different care facilities because of his "unmanageable" dementia, only returning home days before he died.

Jim Smith, from Dalton, died on May 18, six years after he was diagnosed aged 74.

He had been cared for at home by his loving wife of nearly 60 years, Doreen, before suffering a series of violent headaches and episodes which resulted in him being sectioned in January 2015.

Mrs Smith told the Evening Mail how her husband wept as he was taken to Dane Garth, Barrow - the first in a series of moves across the North of England.

She said: "He was usually very passive. He was my blond bombshell, very popular and a man's man.

"When he eventually came home to Barrow he was very poorly and couldn't open his eyes and was like this until he passed away.

"I was with him and I just kissed him on his forehead and he looked up and opened his eyes. I think he was letting me know he knew I was with him."

Staff at Dane Garth said they were unable to provide the specialist care that Mr Smith needed, and sent him to Hillcroft nursing home in Lancaster.

It was during his stay there that staff felt the great-grandfather of three had become "unmanageable" and decided to send him 121 miles to Newcastle.

Luckily, Mrs Smith could still visit her beloved, undertaking the long car journey with her children.

On May 11, 2015 after only 10 days in Newcastle, Mr Smith was moved again to Sunderland where he spent only nine days before enduring more upheaval, moving to the Ruskin unit, Carlisle, where he would stay for almost a year.

"We had never spent a Christmas apart until then," said Mrs Smith.

The family trekked to Carlisle to celebrate Mr Smith's 80th birthday, before yet another move in February this year, when he was sent to Billingham Grange near Hartlepool.

After suffering from dehydration, the frail 80-year-old was moved again to Stockton-on-Tees.

He was given six weeks to live and put on palliative care before a bed became available at Abbey Meadow, Risedale, Barrow, and he was finally able to return home.

Mr and Mrs Smith first met 63-years-ago and would have celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary this September.

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