First pictures of bedroom where 22-stone teenager died show ‘squalor’ she lived in
Pictures reveal cluttered bedroom and a hoist covered in fly dirt
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New pictures from the bedroom in which a 22-stone teenager died have revealed the "squalor and degradation" she lived in.
Alun Titford, 45, is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence of his disabled 16-year-old daughter Kaylea, who was found dead at home in Newton in October 2020 lying in soiled clothing and bed linen.
Kaylea’s mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones, who has six children with Titford, has pleaded guilty to the offence.
Pictures shown to the jury at Mold Crown Court on Friday revealed what the prosecution described as the “squalor” Kaylea – who had spina bifida and used a wheelchair – lived in before she died.
One image showed a stained mattress in Kaylea's cluttered bedroom, while another pictured a hoist used by the teenager covered in fly dirt. Puparia was pictured on the floor of the home in a third image.
The jury was also shown images of a stained bedsheet and larvae on bedclothes.
Kaylea weighed 22 stone and 13 lbs at the time of her death, with a body mass index of 70.
The trial has previously been told maggots were feeding on the body of the morbidly obese teenager, and were at least 48 hours old when examined, forensic entomologist Amoret Whitaker said.
A clinical podiatrist previously told the court he estimated Kaylea’s toenails had not been cut for six to 10 months.
In the defence’s closing speech on Friday, David Elias KC said the family was “let down” by health and social services.
“Not every family who is let down ends up in the situation we have seen, thank heavens, but it is important evidence, we submit, in the context of this defendant’s behaviour,” Mr Elias told the jury.
He said Kaylea was discharged from physiotherapy in 2017 and the following year was further discharged from a dietetics service because her mother did not schedule a new appointment.
The jury heard that in April 2017 a social worker agreed with Lloyd-Jones there was no role for the children-with-disabilities team.
Mr Elias said: “What happened, once all those services withdrew for various reasons, but also because of the input of mum, what happened to Kaylea’s weight? How difficult then did it become for those looking after her?”
Mr Elias said Kaylea’s mother, who worked as a carer from 2018, was responsible for most of her care after she reached puberty, as Titford said he stepped back because he wasn’t “comfortable”.
Mr Elias said it was “reasonable” for Titford to believe his partner was looking after Kaylea and aware of the danger of pressure sores on her legs. He said: “It was Sarah who was dealing with that and that’s not passing the buck, that’s what was happening.”
He said Titford was a full-time removal worker, working 40 to 50 hours a week and 15 days straight before Kaylea’s death.
Mr Elias said: “Here is a defendant who was working throughout, who we say quite rightly, because he was entitled to, because of everything that she had done so well, truly believed until the day Kaylea was found that Sarah Lloyd-Jones was doing the right thing, was giving the right treatment and didn’t know that she wasn’t.”
Titford, of Colwyn, Newtown, denies gross negligence manslaughter and an alternative count of causing or allowing the death of a child.
The case was adjourned to Monday, when judge Mr Justice Martin Griffiths will sum up and the jury is expected to start deliberations.