By Gabriel Princewill-
Controversial Essex rogue landlord, Robert Crow, has passed away from lung cancer at the aged of 74.
His older brother confirmed his passing to The Eye Of Media.Com on phone.
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”He died last night at Basildon Hospice, he said last Thursday. Doctors found he had lung cancer”, his multi-millionaire brother, who has never wanted to be publicly named in association with his brother’s story, told this publication.
”He was a heavy smoker, but his condition had been deteriorating for a while. He fell a few times on Southend street, then also when he was in the care home. I’m sure the fact he was living without electricity even through the winter affected his health badly.
”Nobody knew he had cancer, I don’t think he did either. Cancer can get anybody, it doesn’t depend on age. It is a question of luck”.
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Mr Crow’s death was not immediately made public while the circumstances to his death were examined behind the scene.
Questions of whether a fall at a care home where he spent some of the final months of his life amounted to lack of adequate care by social services, and the possibility of whether this may have been the main cause of his death were examined, following allegations from his daughter, Frances, that not enough was done by social services to protect her father in care.
Frances took over from social services shortly after Mr Crow was hospitalised following a fall at a care home where he was taken to after injuring his head following a fall there. She claimed they were incompetent.
The adage that it comes in threes is pertinent here, as two of Mr Crow’s close childhood friends both died of illnesses in the last half of 2022.
Feuds
Mr Crow’s death comes amidst a backdrop of long running feuds with the Southend Borough council over issues surrounding the maintenance of his property in Southend’s well sought after conservatory area in Devereux Road.
Despite the mounting pressure from the authorities, Mr Crow remained undeterred for years, accusing the council of fraudulent practices and victimisation, despite failing to meet statutory standards of maintaining a House of Multiple Occupation(HMO).
He claimed the council did not care about the homeless at all, and did not care if they died. He saw himself as their ultimate rescuer, regardless the state of his property which he said was ”safer than the winter’s cold”.
The landlord was fined multiple times by Basildon Magistrates and Crown Court, following several legal battles with the Southend Borough Council.
He was fined £18K, after the courts found him to have flouted rules preventing him from housing tenants. Subsequent fines of £43,000 on top of an earlier £39,000 for failing to comply with a Prohibition Order served on one of the flats, and the failure to comply with Improvement Notices and various breeches of management regulations.
Frequently claiming to be the subject of a conspiracy between the council and courts, Mr Crow often accused highly established officials in the council of plotting his downfall, as he alleged corruption between the courts and the council, whom he said were working in cahoots with each other.
He claimed to be the subject of intimidation by the council, whom he said were attacking his human rights by seeking to expel all his tenants from the property.
The Eye Of Media was once initially contacted by Mr Crow in 2017 and asked to investigate Southend Borough Council, and the courts. Some anomalies were found in the final wordings of one of the rulings against him, as far as the literal interpretation of some of the conditions imposed against the notorious landlord, but he was never to find favour with the courts.
Questions of ambiguity in the written ruling of that case were once the subject of scrutiny , but Basildon Crown Court said it led to the right outcome.
Lack of compliance with the authorities was inevitably a problem, but Mr Crow was always at pains to insist that his wars were conspiratorial in nature.
One unarguable fact was that the property he let out to tenants was often in sub optimal condition, and he lacked the wherewithal to operate as a landlord without supervision. He was also poor at taking advice.
Reticence
Mr Crow’s final year was characterised by reticence as he plunged into depression over his financial woes brought about by several legal defeats in the court cases against Southend Borough Council.
By the time he had accepted defeat in his tenacious battle, everything had come tumbling down on him.
Sustained complaints from neighbours had isolated him in an area laden with professionals and well -to do individuals . The lifestyle of his tenants was the antithesis of the ideals shared by the residents of his street, who wanted him out as son as possible. They felt they had seen enough.
Police was called to his property approximately 50 times in one year. Two of his tenants were also jailed for attempted murder and drug dealing respectively. Successive court cases, both with legal aid and self financed barristers failed for the then embattled landlord who was fighting hard in his late 60’s.
Eventually, he was left with one flat out of four others which he had bought for cash to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds in the 80’s when he returned from Saudi Arabia, where he worked in multiple functions including as an engineer and and a quantity surveyor amongst other stints in a period spanning many years.
Witnessing his life earnings wither away made him very subdued.
Crow once told this publication he had resumed his past twenty year habit of smoking, after taking a long break of five years away from the habit.
Care Home
Mr Crow was moved to a care home in Grays early in 2023, after his brother was forced to call the emergency services to his property, when after two days, he received no response from knocking on his door.
His brother had eventually found him passed out on the floor; for the first time alerting him to the fact that the once boisterous and defiant landlord could no longer take care of himself, and needed to be under the care system.
In the weeks, leading to his death, Mr. Crow had become emaciated, weighing just about 8 stone. He was moved to a hospice in Basildon, where he met his demise.
Robert Crow talks to The Eye Of Media in 2019 Image: Bethany Rose
Mr Crow once told this publication in 2020 that former disgraced council’s boss, Stuart Burrell who was jailed for fraud was one of the highly placed members of Southend Borough Council presiding over a group of officials assigned to frustrate his position as a landlord, claiming to have been told by one of his employees that ”I will have back in the gutter where you belong”.
Southend Council at the time denied the existence of any conspiracy to frustrate Mr. Crow’s affairs, attributing his troubles to sheer negligence on his part, and none compliance with statutory laws.
Mr Crow’s neighbours constantly expressed frustration with his presence in their neighbourhood, citing the anti-social behaviour of his tenants and an untidy environment. His dwindling reputation in his neighbourhood had on an occasion influenced deviants in the area to target him.
Eventually, his own accommodation was under severe risk after his mortgage lenders threatened to evict him over mortgage arrears
Though synonymous with controversy, the beleaguered landlord provided a roof for many of Southend’s abandoned low lifers, many of whom were lacking in prospects and some of whom were on drugs..
Shocking
One of the most shocking aspects of Robert Crow’s life was his prolonged period of living without electricity. In a rare move, energy provider Ovo disconnected his electric supply in 2020, after he failed to pay bills and was found to have tampered with the meter.
This disconnection left Crow and his property without electricity for over two years, exacerbating his personal heath, as he spent two winters in the cold without heating. Whether that state of affairs imposed a duty on social services to intervene earlier is one of the areas that may be the subject of investigation, though Mr Crow was notorious for not responding quickly enough to prudent advice.
He declined advice to negotiate an instalment pay plan with the energy supplier in order to safeguard his own health.
Depression
Mr Crow’s final years were characterised by reticence, as he plunged into depression over his financial woes brought about by several legal defeats in the court cases against Southend Borough Council.
By the time he had accepted defeat, everything had come tumbling down on him. Seeing his life earnings disappear made him loose the fight.
His lifestyle and those of his tenants were the antithesis of the ideals shared by the residents of his street, who s well as Southend Borough Council wanted his days as a landlord numbered.
Last year, Mr Crow told this publication that his situation had led to him being depressed, adding that one of his greatest concerns was not being able to leave anything for his children when he passes.
Ultimately, Robert Crow’s story stands as a cautionary tale of the importance of living responsibly, healthily, and taking advice.
He will be remembered for his frequent court battles with Southend Borough Council, and for his ambivalent relationship with the homeless, both as supplier of accommodation, and the subject of complaints.
He is survived by two children- Frances- a local journalist in the Midlands area- and David- a DJ who was estranged from his father for many years.
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