Dad fell 4 storeys to his death at assisted-living home despite family's warning
A heartbroken daughter and carers raised concerns for a vulnerable man's safety in the accommodation he was living in before he tragically fell to his death from his fourth floor balcony.
Mark Williams began losing his eyesight around 2008, and it deteriorated badly, while his two daughters Jessy and Lucy took care of him. However this, along with a number of other conditions, led to his health worsening over the years.
The 60-year-old moved into Potters Court, an assisted living facility in Southampton, not long after it opened in June 2021. A short time later, on September 17 of that year, he was diagnosed with cancer, leading to his health deteriorating further. Despite his poor eyesight, and other complicating health conditions, Mark was placed in a flat on the fourth floor with a balcony.
But on the morning of November 9, 2021, just a handful of months after moving in, Mark fell to his death from his balcony, with his daughter Jessy telling the Mirror she believes he'd become confused. An inquest which found Mark had been the victim of accidental death heard Jessy and staff members at the assisted living facility raised concerns with management at Apex Prime Care, over Mark’s safety, which in turn flagged them to the council.
Mark pictured on his wedding day with his mum (Supplied)
Mark, a carpenter by profession, with one of his two daughters, Lucy, when she was born in September 1987 (Supplied)Speaking to the Mirror, Jessy described her dad as an "amazing" person, who dedicated himself to them. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "We're angry because no one was held accountable for what happened to my dad, after we raised our fears so many times. My dad's life hasn't been valued. We were not heard or listened to, we had to fight for this, but even with all the fighting I don't even feel we really got justice for him.
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"We thought dad moving into Potters court would give him a new lease of life and it didn't. When you put your family member in care of the council you expect them to be safe."
She added: "He was such a brilliant loving dad, he was so funny, he would take us out to holidays and day trips, he took us to Greece, we had an amazing time there ... he was such outgoing, quirky man, he was all about his grandkids."
He did suffer with his mental health, and both daughters helped look after him when needed, from when they were teenagers, into adulthood. Soon after moving her dad into Potters Court, Jessy was told Mark had been found wandering around, confused and disorientated.
Due to Mark's blindness, later the cancer, and other health conditions including schizoaffective disorder, depression and anxiety, he’d sometimes struggle to find his way to the toilet, and soiled himself. Jessy claims he lacked the attention he needed and The Mirror has seen messages sent to care home staff in the run up to Mark’s death highlighting concerns of his care being "compromised".
Mark, pictured later in life, with his two daughters Jessy and Lucy (Supplied)Similarly, in Mark's GP records, doctors flag the daughters' repeated worries about him getting disoriented and lost living on the fourth floor. The inquest heard that Apex Care carers, who provided the personal care, informed Southampton City Council, who managed the site, of concerns around Mark’s safety on September 14 2021.
During the inquest at Winchester Crown Court, one Apex Prime Care carer, Brittany Baignet, outlined worries herself and other carers had for Mark. In her statement, she said: "I know other carers have raised concerns around Mark … I know from the group chat and just talking to other carers that a number had raised concerns and thought that Mark needed more support, which would have been handed over to management." She went on to tell the inquest she believed that by November Mark had been too ill to be resident in the facility, let alone safe to live in a fourth floor flat.
Jessy spoke movingly to the Mirror about her dad's tragic passing (Supplied)The inquest also heard evidence from Jo Miles, who’d once worked at Potters Court, and had also raised concerns about Mark getting disoriented and confused. Ms Miles told the inquest: "I also had concerns of his disorientation and raised this with management. I advised Lucy and Jess to speak with management to get extra support for him if possible a live in carer or respite whilst he was poorly.
“I told managers numerous times about this and they advised me to tell the girls to call them and not message me. I believe the girls got very frustrated when things were not getting addressed. I had this also from things I reported about Mark and also other service users.”
Mark spent only a few months at the assisted living facility before he tragically died (Supplied)Ms Miles was the person who discovered Mark’s body. She recalled the traumatic moment, saying: "I had some time off on annual leave and then on my first day returning the horrific incident had happened. I got the alert through the WhatsApp group. I went to the garden with two colleagues to find poor Mark laying on the ground. I checked to see if he was breathing and he wasn't. He was quite cold. My colleagues rang 999. I advised (Paige) to go and get a blanket from his flat. I rang managers and they took forever to answer. They eventually answered and said they were coming from Basingstoke. They would inform the next of kin."
Ms Miles told the inquest she stayed with Mark until an ambulance arrived and said when management came on the scene they "wanted me to carry on to do calls". But Ms Miles threw up in the toilet, and was eventually sent home, saying she was never offered counselling or support after what happened.
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Lucy and dad Mark on Rhodes island, Greece, on holiday in 2003 (Supplied)Mark's daughter Jessy told the Mirror how she learned of his death., saying: "I was in my room getting ready for work, it was 7.41am, I got a call on my phone from the care manager, she said ‘hi Jessy, I don’t mean to bother you we found your dad in the garden’ and I was thinking what do they mean? ‘Oh and he’s dead’." Jessy rushed to the accommodation but when she got there, she said there were no staff to meet her and she was left rushing around the garden "screaming" until someone pointed her in the direction of her dad’s body. She added: "I ran round the corner and time seemed to slow, his body was twisted, he was covered by a tiny little blanket and was grey and yellow, rigamortis had set in … they didn’t stop residents looking off the balcony,".
Mark on holiday in Sumatra in the mid 1990s (Supplied)The latest Care Quality Commission inspection of Potters Court, held a few months after Mark’s death, ranked it ‘requires improvement’ and until the inquest, Jessy and Lucy faced a battle to convince people her father hadn’t taken his own life. One of the reasons Jessy supported her dad moving into Potter's Court was that she lived virtually next door to it. Now, every day she's forced to look upon the place her dad died.
By October, during his time at the assisted living facility, after suffering from disorientation, getting lost and being unable to find the toilet, Mark began to take cannabis oil to help treat his cancer - something he got outside of his GP. Jessy said she believed some of his carers may have been aware of this.
In conclusion, the coroner ruled Mark's death an accident and said it was possibly contributed to by "very high levels of THC" - a chemical compound in cannabis - in his blood at the time. Southampton City Council, who owns the assisted living facility, defended their decision to put Mark on the top floor, saying they had "insufficient information" in his application.
Claire Edgar, Executive Director Wellbeing and Housing, Southampton City Council, said: "We would like to offer our sincere condolences to Mr Williams’ family, who we have continued to communicate with over the last two years and whose experiences have contributed to the review of our policies and procedures. Potters Court is a vibrant housing with care scheme, and we work closely with Apex Prime Care to ensure residents’ safety and wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do. It’s for this reason we actively and openly participated in the recent coroner’s inquest. We accept the coroner’s verdict, and as a multi-agency team, we will fully cooperate with any recommendations that follow. We also recognise the impact of Mr Williams’ sad death, and the inquest, on our staff and the Potters Court community. We would like to thank them for their help and patience, as we continue to support them through this difficult time.”
A spokesperson for Apex Prime Care said: "Everyone at Apex Prime Care remains deeply saddened by the death of Mr Williams. The organisation has been fully committed to assisting the Coroner with her investigation. The safety and wellbeing of our Service Users remains a priority to all staff at Apex Prime Care and we will respond proactively and appropriately to any lessons that need to be learned. We continue to express our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Williams during this difficult time."
The Care Quality Commission has been approached for comment.
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