A bankrupt man locked outside of his £300,000 home after being evicted froze to death in his garden when paramedics took 16 hours to respond to a 999 call.
Anthony Barnard was found dead outside the detached property he once owned on December 27 despite police calling paramedics.
It is understood Mr Barnard had lived there for around 20 years before losing the property when he was declared bankrupt.
East of England Ambulance Service said it first received a call about Mr Barnard from Suffolk Police asking them to attend to him at Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Anthony Barnard was found dead outside the detached property he once owned on December 27 despite police calling paramedics
But the ambulance service said the case was classed as a non-emergency call because he was breathing and conscious with ‘no obvious injuries.’
A neighbour who described seeing him ‘obviously dead’ on the decking of his back garden made a second call 16 hours later.
An ambulance arrived eight minutes after the subsequent second call but paramedics reportedly declared Mr Barnard dead.
He had previously been spotted drinking outside, according to neighbours. One said: ‘He was just unlucky he picked the wrong night to be out when they were busy.’
His former neighbour, Janice Wilcox, said: ‘He was very obviously a troubled man and he liked to keep that to himself.
‘To think in this day and age somebody had died in their garden, possibly frozen to death.
‘We don’t yet know his cause of death but it was a very, very cold night. It was awful.’
Weather records show the night Mr Barnard died, temperatures went below freezing to between -1 to -3 degrees Celsius.
Suffolk Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to investigate its handling of the case.
Mr Barnard was declared bankrupt in 2017 but had rejected financial help.
Andrew McTear, who was dealing with his bankruptcy, said: ‘He was made bankrupt and ultimately evicted from his property because he failed to deal with his affairs and didn’t respond to any correspondence.
‘At some point he lived with his mother. I was aware he was going back to the house. He wouldn’t have been able to get back.
‘He certainly would be breaching a court order to go back inside the house itself.’
Suffolk Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to investigate its handling of the case.
A neighbour who described seeing him ‘obviously dead’ on the decking of his back garden made a second call 16 hours later
A police spokesman said: ‘Suffolk Constabulary can confirm it has made a mandatory referral to the IOPC who will conduct an independent investigation.’
Mr Barnard’s case was exposed after a senior whistleblower from the ambulance trust leaked a dossier claiming 40 patients died or were injured due to delays over Christmas and New Year.
Prime Minister Theresa May raised concerns over the failings in Parliament on Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions.