Some people choose to be alone

It may be some time before we know how and why Stephania Wolf and her daughter Sam perished at their Hertfordshire home, writes Peter Rhodes.

One theory is that Mrs Wolf, 67, died suddenly and Sam, who had cerebral palsy and was unable to feed herself, died some days later.

It is a nightmarish prospect and it inspired a priest on Radio 4 yesterday to rage against what he called "the hell of isolation".

He told us how his grandmother had been a tireless visitor to the sick and lonely in her parish. He missed an important point.

It is that for many, many people, hell is not isolation. Hell is busybodies. Hell is the knock at the door.

People who choose to live apart from society may or may not enjoy what Wordsworth called "the bliss of solitude" but they prefer the risks of isolation to the attentions of strangers.

It now emerges that Mrs Wolf had twice been offered help by Social Services and declined.

Like many folk, she simply wanted to be left alone, to care for her beloved, stricken daughter as best she could.

These are two shocking and terrible deaths. Yet they illustrate the fear and distrust many people feel towards the authorities.

Tragedies like this are the price we pay for a measure of personal freedom and the right, no matter how stormy the weather, to paddle our own canoe.