This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64803863
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Kaylea Titford: Parents who let neglected teen die jailed | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Alun Titford and Sarah Lloyd Jones have been jailed | |
| The parents of a 16-year-old girl who died following "shocking" neglect have been jailed. | |
| Kaylea Titford's father Alun Titford, from Newtown, Powys, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and has been jailed for seven years and six months. | |
| Kaylea's mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones admitted the same charge and was sentenced to six years. | |
| The teenager's body was found on soiled sheets at their home in October 2020. | |
| Kaylea Titford was morbidly obese at the time of her death, jurors were told | Kaylea Titford was morbidly obese at the time of her death, jurors were told |
| Sentencing the pair at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Griffiths said Kaylea's parents were "both equally responsible and were both equally culpable." | |
| The judge added: "This was a horrifying case. A case of sustained neglect, leading to the death of a vulnerable, bedridden child at the hands of her own parents." | |
| The hearing was the first time broadcasters have been allowed to film a crown court hearing in Wales. | |
| It follows a major change in the law last year which permitted TV cameras in some courtrooms. | |
| 'Squalor and degradation' | |
| Kayleigh Titford had spina bifida, which left her with little feeling from the waist down, limiting her mobility, and had used a wheelchair from a young age. | |
| The trial heard that when she was found dead at her home on 10 October 2020 she was morbidly obese, weighing nearly 23 stone (146 kg). | |
| Her hair was dirty and matted and she was unwashed with ulcerated skin. | |
| Kaylea had been restricted to her bed for more than six months since the start of the UK's Covid lockdown when she died | |
| The prosecution said her parents' "serious failures were hidden from the world" because of the coronavirus lockdown, that kept Kaylea at home from March 2020 onwards. | |
| This left her "trapped" in an "inhumane" environment where she lay on "filthy puppy pads" with maggots and flies on and around her body. | |
| 'Sought to evade responsibility' | |
| Before the lockdown, Kaylea was described as being "fiercely independent and a lovely, chatty girl," but she became less able to move using a wheelchair. | |
| Kaylea had not been seen by any medical professional in the nine months prior to her death, the court was told, and the evidence of a doctor was that the "consequences of neglect" were the worst he had seen in 30 years of practice. | |
| In the three months before her death, the household had spent a total of £1035.76 on takeaway food. | |
| "As her condition deteriorated, the expenditure on takeaways and fast food increased," she said. | |
| The trial heard that Kayleigh was "eating, sleeping and defecating" from her bed. | |
| "The last months of Kayleigh Titford's life must have been horrendous," the prosecution said. | |
| Sarah Lloyd-Jones arriving for sentencing at Swansea Crown Court | |
| The court also heard a series of text messages between Kayleigh Titford and her mother in August and September 2020, in which she asked for help with "incontinence needs". | |
| "It shows that Sarah Lloyd-Jones was fully aware, and did not do anything about it," Ms Rees said. | |
| Caroline Rees QC said it was not a "lapse" in care, but "repeated negligent conduct in the face of obvious suffering". | |
| She added: "Both parents had a duty of care, both were equally responsible. The fact that Alun Titford chose to absent himself from the care of Kayleigh, does not give him an excuse." | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| Obesity | Obesity |
| Newtown | Newtown |
| Childhood obesity | Childhood obesity |