‘Lamentable’ council failings led to pensioner’s roadside death, inquest hears

A London council has been criticised by a coroner for its “lamentable” response to concerns about the welfare of an 82-year-old man with dementia whose body was found 10 weeks after he went missing from his care home.

Leocardo Loney’s daughters said local councils need to learn lessons from the failures in their father’s care which has left his family “completely devastated”.

The pensioner, who moved to the UK from Trinidad in 1961, walked out of his extra care housing home in Wembley in August 2017 but was not reported missing by staff until the next morning.

His body was found in a hedge, 10 miles away, more than two months later.

Parts of a car were close to his body raising suspicions he had been hit by a car before his death but a post mortem and police investigation were unable to give a definitive cause of death.

An inquest at West London Coroner’s Court heard Brent Council was repeatedly warned over a two-year-period by staff at Willow House Extra Care that Mr Loney was at risk and needed more secure accommodation.

But the council failed to act.

The former London Transport worker had been placed at the housing scheme since 2015 but had wandered off on a number of occasions and had to be returned by police. On one occasion he was found near Heathrow Airport and on another at the side of the M1 motorway.

Coroner Dr Sean Cummings said the emails from housing staff to social services were not treated appropriately or acted on by council staff.

He found the local authority were “cumulatively languid” and often “lamentable” in their response. He said the council appeared fixated on providing the least restrictive care rather than considering Mr Loney’s safety.

Recording a narrative verdict, he said there were “severe failings” in the care provided by social services.

Mr Loney’s daughters Marie and Denise said they hoped lessons would be learned.

Speaking after the inquest they said: “The whole family was completely devastated by what happened with dad and we were heartbroken when his body was found. Some very worrying issues have been raised at the hearing and we now hope that local authorities learn lessons from dad’s case in order to prevent other families facing what we have.

“It is absolutely vital that those with dementia and other vulnerable people can always access the care and support that they need.”

Fiona McGhie, a lawyer with Irwin Mitchell solicitors who represented the family at the inquest, said the verdict had come after a long wait for answers.

She said: “For more than two years the pain and suffering they have experienced has been made worse by having so many unanswered questions to the concerns they had. Whilst there is a balance to be struck between promoting an individual’s independence and providing a safe system of care, it is clear that the right balance was not achieved for Leocardo.”

Brent Council told The Independent it was deeply sorry for Mr Loney’s death and had apologised to his family.

In a statement the council said: “Despite his advancing dementia Mr Loney was happy and social and enjoyed where he lived very much. Everybody involved in caring for Mr Loney worked tirelessly to strike a balance between keeping him safe and exploring the community which was one of the main things that made him happy. The coroner has indicated that we got the balance wrong between Mr Loney’s safety and enabling him to maintain a lifestyle that made him happy.

“In response to the tragic circumstances of Mr Loney’s death we will continue to work with relevant partners so that every lesson is learned, every risk understood, and every step is taken to ensure, as far as possible, that this does not happen again.”