Sir – The shameful and shocking death of Mark Wood from starvation, in effect caused by cuts to his benefits following a deeply flawed Atos assessment which judged the vulnerable and unwell Mr Wood fit to work, is described (Decision revised on dead man’s benefits, April 3) by David Cameron as “a tragic case”, to which should be appended ‘criminal’.

For even now, in explaining that the DWP has “revised our original decision”, the spokesperson, ignoring the words at the inquest by Mark Wood’s GP, Nicholas Ward and of the coroner, Darren Salter, in his narrative verdict, on the consequences (death from starvation) of the Atos assessment and subsequent benefit cuts, states: “The coroner attributed Mr Wood’s eating disorder and food phobias as the likely cause of death, rather than his benefits being stopped.”
A narrow legalistic interpretation but one which is grotesque in its denial of the horror which befell Mark Wood and the misery his family and friends must now suffer in the wake of his death.
And as has been reported in recent years in The Oxford Times and beyond, crude and punitive assessments and actions by Atos (and other private companies to which recent governments have outsourced public services) are more the norm than the exception. The Coalition Government’s self-righteous prejudices have created an environment where the word welfare has become a synonym for moral failure, work-shyness, crookedness, every claimant a “welfare claim”. Mark Wood’s parish priest described him as a person of dignity.
What dignity does a posthumous admission that Atos got it wrong have to offer his memory.
Bruce Ross-Smith, Headington