Man put drunk girlfriend in boiling bath and did nothing as her skin peeled off

28 November 2023 , 20:48

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Clare Bell died after receiving third degree burns from a scalding bath (Image: Staffordshire Police)

A man has been found guilty of manslaughter after he put his drunk girlfriend in a lethally hot bath.

Mark Clowes, 53, placed 42-year-old Clare Bell into the water before later helping her out of it. A court heard she was incapable of doing it herself, and at this point, it would have been clear she had been badly scalded. However Clowes failed to get her any help despite noticing that her skin was peeling off.

She was placed in the bath at around 11am on August 9 2020 and it wasn't until 5.10pm later that day Clowes called 999 asking for an ambulance - after he failed to check on her for many hours. This was despite Clowes being aware that Clare was incapable of asking for help herself.

Mark Clowes was found guilty of manslaughter (Stoke Sentinel/BPM Media)

He went on to tell a paramedic that he saw Clare's skin had shed from her feet. Medics found Clare on the bed where she had sadly already died. She had 30 per cent full thickness burns to her back, bottom, thighs, feet, arm and elbows. A pathologist said that scalding contributed to her death, Birmingham Live reports.

Clowes of Audley, Staffordshire, was found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter at Stafford Crown Court on November 28.

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Following the verdict, detective chief inspector of the Staffordshire Police's Major Investigations Department, Cheryl Hannan, said: "I welcome today's verdict. Clare should have been able to trust Mark to look after her when she was incapable. He didn’t do anything for Clare until it was too late.

"We employed a number of different experts to determine what took place that day. As well as a forensic pathologist, we employed the services of a specialist burns expert and a toxicology expert Our thoughts remain with Clare's family and I hope they can take some comfort in the guilty verdict." Clowes is due to be sentenced on February 2."

Isabelle Bates