Cupboard check ends man’s 27-hour ordeal

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 8

Cupboard check ends man’s 27-hour ordeal

A second check of a cupboard by staff at a war veterans’ home proved lucky for an elderly man who had been locked inside it for 27 hours.

Mr Robert May, aged 83,* was found “a little hungry” but otherwise well after being locked in while staff at Rannerdale Home, in Riccarton, joined with the police in searching the grounds and nearby streets for him.

The home’s secretarymanager, Mr Bill Walker, said Mr May was taken out and given

a hot shower and a meal when he was found about 1 p.m. on Monday. “It was quite an ordeal for him — it is hoped there won’t be any after-effects,” he said.

The cupboard had been checked soon after Mr May went missing about 10 a.m. on Sunday but because he was probably leaning against the door it could not be opened, said Mr Walker.

The cupboard was usually locked and because it would not open it was thought to be still locked'.

“We assumed that he had wandered off,” Mr Walker said. A second check of the cupboard by the principal nurse at the home, Sister Shirley Symon, was more successful.

Mr May, who was in the R.N2.A.F. during World War 11, was a keen walker but was also known for his habit of opening doors to look behind them.

Mr Walker said that many of the staff and residents were upset at Mr May’s disappearance, as he was popular at the home.