Missed chances to save teen who died after parents let her weight balloon
A teenager whose parents were found guilty of her manslaughter by allowing her to become morbidly obese in lockdown did not have a care plan in place.
Kaylea Titford died from "shocking neglect" weighing 23 stone, and was found lying in soiled clothing and bed linen. Shortly before the 16-year-old died, her father Alun heard her screaming and instead of checking on his daughter, sent her a text message saying 'stop it'. He and Kaylea's mother Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones, were sentenced to 10 years and eight years respectively for manslaughter by gross negligence.
A report into Kaylea’s death, called a child practice review, was commissioned by the Mid and West Wales Regional Safeguarding Board. It found that despite many professionals being involved in her life, care was not coordinated by a single person or organisation. The report described her as “a tenacious child [who] faced the world amidst compounding health and social inequalities”.
Kaylea had spina bifada and hydrocephalus and used a wheelchair. She should have been assessed for a care and support plan, without which her needs and those of her parents as carers were “not visible” to Powys council. The report added that the distressing nature of Kaylea’s avoidable suffering and subsequent death was an “inescapable truth” and that the condition of her body was a source of anguish and indicative of chronic neglect.
Kaylea Titford (Facebook)At the beginning of 2019, Kaylea had 98% school attendance, but during that year, her health problems escalated. By November the same year, her school attendance had dropped to 70%. Her parents met school staff and explained her health problems, and also said Kaylea had been bullied in school.
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The report said Kaylea received informal counselling and her attendance improved to 82%. But as the pandemic began she was classed as a vulnerable child and had to shield at home. There was no assessment of the likelihood that she could suffer significant harm during the pandemic, it added.
“The evidence of the way she died permits us to conclude the contributory impact of extended quarantine was multiple and complex, exacerbating her vulnerabilities and reducing the supportive infrastructure upon which she relied,” the review said.
Kaylea's school spoke to her family weekly throughout April and July 2020 and had daily contact with her mother from September 3 until October 9 2020 - the day before Kaylea died. It has since strengthened guidance on what to do when a child themselves is not seen. The report stated there were no recordings or reference to Kaylea’s weight in 2019 or 2020.
Sarah Lloyd-Jones was jailed (PA)
Alun Titford was called lazy (PA)As her parents were sentenced for her manslaughter, prosecutor Caroline Rees KC, said: "By the time of her death between October 9-10, Kaylea Titford was living in conditions unfit for any animal, let alone for a vulnerable 16-year-old girl who depended on others for her care. Kaylea lived and died in squalor and degradation. Their serious failures were hidden from the scrutiny of the outside world from March 2020 by reason of the national lockdown during the global Covid pandemic.
"This allowed both defendants to avoid the scrutiny of the outside world. Kaylea Titford was bed-bound for many months before her death. Kaylea had not used the toilet or shower since before lockdown. During the last months of her life she was bed-bound, eating, sleeping and defecating in her own bed."
Horrifically, she added police officers found maggots in various stages of development crawling over the bed when she was moved. They were believed to have been there in her final days.
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