THIS is pensioner Muriel Roberts - paralysed from the neck down and abandoned without professional care.

Experts say she needs at least two full-time trained carers.

But her desperate family say that, despite having a special grant to fund help, they can find no organisation to do the work.

Muriel, 67, has fallen through the care services' net and it is left to her son-in-law Chris Marlow to feed, bathe, dress and nurse her without any training.

Meanwhile, Chris (pictured with his mother-in-law) holds down a full-time job and looks after his disabled wife Sandra and their two children.

Muriel, of Pinkerton Road, South Ham, Basingstoke, suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Seven years ago, the Government introduced the Independent Living Fund initiative, aimed at promoting care in the community.

Social services claimed this meant that they were no longer obliged to provide her with care.

Chris, an information technology engineer, of Abbey Road, Popley, said: "In the past 12 months, it has been increasingly difficult to find an agency to keep her.

"They find pickings are easier elsewhere because Muriel really needs a lot of care.

"Three agencies in the past year have taken her on and then backtracked.

"My mother-in-law was in hospital with an infection but four days before Christmas we arranged for Oakfern Communicare to take her on.

"However, after just two days they termin-ated the contract, leaving us without care over Christmas and New Year, and for the foreseeable future."

Chris added: "Under the Government initiative, we have a grant to fund our own care but we can't find anyone to do it.

"The doctor says it's up to social services, but they say we've got funding and there's nothing they can do. We have been abandoned.

"The situation is intolerable and extremely embarrassing for my mother-in-law and myself."

Les Love, a spokesman for Oakfern Communicare, confirmed that the contract had been terminated.

He said: "We agreed to put two carers in on the first day, but on the second we could only provide one and, because of the nature of her disabilities, it is virtually impossible for one carer to do it.

"When we spoke to the family we didn't fully appreciate what problems there were. We just don't have the resources."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "We don't discuss individual cases."

A Hampshire Social Services spokeswoman told The Gazette: "We do sympathise with this family because there's a shortage of carers and it can be very difficult.

"But this family has access to £1,300 per month for care from the Independent Living Fund and, therefore, they are not technically the responsibility of social services."

She added: "Unfortunately, the Government does not allow them to use that money to pay us for respite care.

"We are currently ringing around care agencies and trying to intercede on the family's behalf to get them to keep her on."

Following fresh information obtained by The Gazette from the Department of Social Security, Hampshire County Council has now agreed to assess the family.