A SEVERELY disabled man’s dreams of returning to Salisbury have been shattered at the last minute – leaving his mother heartbroken.

Mark Wareham, 51, was among four adults forced out of their home when disability charity Scope shut Shapland Close, Salisbury last Christmas.

He was moved 25 miles away to Netley Abbey near Southampton and his family have spent the past year searching for a suitable property near Salisbury to bring him home.

They finally found a bungalow in South Newton and were told Mark could move in.

But last week his mum Shirley was told the move was off after health workers questioned whether Mark could live alone there, even with round-the-clock care.

Shirley, whose husband Michael is also severely disabled with progressive supranuclear palsy – a condition similar to motor neurone disease – said she was “devastated” by the news.

“I’m furious,” she said. “The whole year has been wasted. This should have been sorted out right at the beginning.”

Michael can no longer do anything for himself and requires constant care, meaning Shirley now struggles to visit her son more than once every three weeks or so.

When living in Salisbury she could see him every couple of days.

“I want to be able to just pop in when I’m going by and see he’s all right,” she said.

Mark's brother Lee said: "It's been one year completely wasted. How the situation has been allowed to come to this is quite extraordinary really."

A spokesman for Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We acknowledge the frustration and upset this delay has caused for Mark and his family and are doing all we can to ensure safe, suitable accommodation is available. Whilst a solution had been brought to us, on review it was identified that this required further development to ensure a safe and sustainable proposal is in place.

“It is essential the new home meets the necessary requirements and that care for Mark is able to meet his needs. We are working with Mark’s family to make sure suitable accommodation is identified as soon as possible.”

*Mark Best, another severely disabled adult kicked out of Shapland Close in December 2015, has now secured a bungalow in Winterslow after a funding row between the NHS and social services threatened his return.