Kate Garraway asks for ‘help’ after receiving ‘unsettling’ post addressed to late husband Derek Draper

Kate Garraway has slammed a London council for sending “unsettling post” making “demands” to her late husband Derek Draper.

In January, the 56-year-old political lobbyist Draper who suffered a years-long battle with the effects of Covid-19, died weeks after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Now, three months later, Good Morning Britain host Garraway has accused Haringey Council, in north London, of sending him post that he “obviously can’t respond to”.

Garraway, who recently said she was “in debt” due to the soaring medical bills, asked the council’s official X/Twitter account for “help”, explaining that she has been trying to contact them and was met with an unhelpful employee on the phone.

She wrote: “Please help – have been trying for ten days sold [sic] to speak to someone about my husband passing away – following unsettling post making demands which obviously he can’t respond to. I just cannot get through.

“Again today nearly 50 mins wait & before I could get through, the man put me straight back to the beginning.

The grieving Garraway continued: “Another 20 mins and then it timed out as shuts at 5pm. Is there a bereavement service or SOMETHING!!!!

Garraway did not reveal the contents of the “unsettling” post related to Draper. The Independent has contacted Garraway and Haringey Council for comment.

In March, Garraway revealed she was spending £16,000 a month on basic care for Draper, who required round-the-clock help from care workers and therapists, before his death.

The TV presenter, who was Draper’s primary carer, acknowledged she was “lucky’ to have a job “where people would allow me to rush off to appointments”, and said on Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story, a documentary filmed before his death: “I’m not going to pretend that I’m poorly paid.

“I have an incredible job that I love, which is well-paid. But it’s not enough.”

Garraway also revealed that, before the heart attack, his health seemed to be improving.

“We were in a very different place, health-wise, from the year before – and it felt like the happiest place,” she said on the ITV documentary.

“We had more of Derek back. We always knew his injuries could take him, but it all felt so positive at that point, it was the furthest from my mind that anything could happen.”

However, Draper suffered a cardiac arrest while staying at a brain cell clinic in Mexico as Garraway was mid-flight to collect him. Though doctors were able to restart his heart, Draper never regained consciousness and “slipped away” on 3 January.

Draper is survived by Garraway, also 56, and their children 18, and 14.