They were just five words, separated by four tiny full stops and four spaces: “brother. do. you. love. me.” But when, in November 2020, that text from Reuben Coe, who was alone in his room in a care home in Dorset, arrived on the phone of his brother Manni in Andalusia there was little else he could do. Manni had to get him out.
Soon the 48-year-old travel guide was packing his bags, saying an indeterminate goodbye to his partner Jack and flying to Britain on a one-way ticket. He collected Reuben, 38, who has Down’s syndrome, from the home, where he was given a 10% chance of recovering from the terrible toll isolation had taken on him, and took him to a cottage in a village near the Jurassic Coast.
