Disabled 23-stone child, 16, left to die alone during lockdown ‘had potential’ as a future wheelchair basketball Paralympian, coach reveals – after parents tried to blame social services for her death
- Kaylea Titford was found dead in ‘severely soiled’ bedroom in Newtown, Powys
- Alun Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones were jailed for gross negligent manslaughter
A disabled 23-stone schoolgirl who was left to die in her own filth during the Covid lockdown ‘had potential’ as a future Paralympian, her coach has revealed.
Kaylea Titford, who had spina bifida, was found dead sitting up in her ‘severely soiled’ bed at home in Newtown, Powys, surrounded by flies and maggots after being allowed to become morbidly obese by her parents during the pandemic.
Her father Alun Titford, who will spend seven and a half years behind bars, and mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones, who was sentenced to six years, allowed the 16-year-old’s weight to soar and her health to deteriorate as they left her alone in her adapted room.
Titford, 45, and Lloyd-Jones, 40, spent more than £1,000 on takeaways and fizzy drinks in the three months before their daughter’s death, but failed to keep her clean and ignored her pleas for help. Asked why he let Kaylea down so badly, her father, who denied manslaughter by gross negligence, told jurors: ‘I’m lazy.’
After the sentencing yesterday, Kaylea’s old sports coach revealed she was a talented wheelchair-basketball player who could have gone on to represent her country on the world’s biggest stage.
Tragic Kaylea Titford ‘had potential’ as a future Paralympian, her wheelchair basketball coach has revealed
Kaylea’s mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones (left), was jailed for six years and her father Alun Titford (right) for seven and a half years
Kaylea Titford’s dirty, cluttered bedroom, where bottles of urine, a whole cake in a box and a chip fryer with drips of fat down the side were found
Steve Cox told the BBC: ‘She was a wonderful person and used to try card games – and she could cheat better than me in the end.
‘She was very pleasant, a joy to work with. It was a shame we couldn’t have worked with her a bit more.
‘She was quite impressive. We would have liked to get her higher up the disability sport ladder for, I’d say, we could have got her into the Paralympics at a push.’
READ MORE: Inside squalid home where disabled 16-year-old died weighing nearly 23 stone and the soiled bed where she was left to lay in her own filth
It comes after a judge rejected the parents’ claims that they ‘lacked support’ from authorities, insisting they were aware that help was available but ‘did not make full use’ of it.
Mr Justice Griffiths told Swansea Crown Court: ‘There was a history of missed appointments.
‘Some of these ended the provision of relevant services, because professionals took the view that there was no point in scheduling appointments which were not being attended.
‘Both defendants were aware that help was available from a variety of agencies, but they did not make full use of that help as time went on.
‘By the end, they were not accessing or accepting any significant help at all for Kaylea.
‘The whole burden of looking after her therefore fell on them, but this was not for reasons beyond their control. It was part of their gross negligence towards the wellbeing of their daughter.’
He later said: ‘I do not accept that any blame that may have attached to outside agencies for not being more proactive can be used to reduce the defendants’ primary responsibility, as parents, to reach out for the help which they knew – from experience – was available.
‘Help was there for the taking. It was there for the asking. It had been given before. Both defendants completely neglected to get the help that Kaylea needed and sometimes it was ignored when offered.’
Kaylea, 16, died after suffering inflammation and infection from ulceration, arising from obesity and immobility
The jury was shown an image of the soiled bed used by Kaylea Titford
Another image shown in court as part of the trial revealed a fly paper hanging in Kaylea’s bedroom
Judge describes appalling conditions Kaylea Titford was left to die in
Mr Justice Griffiths said Kaylea Titford had been left in appalling conditions due to the negligence of Sarah Lloyd-Jones and Alun Titford.
‘Her immobility also removed her ability to extricate herself from the general squalor into which the defendants sank her,’ he said.
‘She was in a specially adapted room in a specially adapted house, with her own disabled toilet, but she had long since been unable to toilet herself.
‘By the time of her death, she was lying in her own filth, surrounded by flies which bothered her and maggots which fed on her.
‘Her flesh was disfigured by ulcers which left her skin open down to the fat and in one place down to the bone.
‘The stench created as her body rotted away alive, and from the excrement left to dry unattended around and on her body, and in the room, made paramedic and police officers of long experience retch and feel physically sick when they attended on the body.
‘The ulcers on Kaylea’s body, caused by pressure sores, lack of hygiene, lack of movement and lack of professional care, were the worst the expert had ever seen.’
The judge described how Kaylea was a ‘fiercely independent’ child and accomplished wheelchair user who attended mainstream school.
He said she died after ‘shocking and prolonged neglect’ by her parents during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020.
Representing Lloyd-Jones, Lewis Power KC said his client realised her inaction had led to her daughter’s death.
Mr Power told the court: ‘During the lockdown period, when so many people suffered not just mentally but in socialisation, she became gradually overwhelmed.
‘Her coping strategies, coupled with lockdown, led her to develop major depression and she was no longer able to care for her daughter’s needs.
‘It escalated to the horrendous situation where she withdrew from her everyday responsibilities and led to the catastrophic outcome.’
He said Lloyd-Jones did not seek to blame others for what had happened and was remorseful.
‘She is a lady of good character. A lady who has expressed genuine remorse and contrition and who lacked the necessary support from her husband and social services,’ Mr Power told the court.
However, the judge interjected that the evidence did not point to Lloyd-Jones lacking support but, rather, not accepting it.
David Elias KC, representing Titford, suggested that the parents – who had six children together – had been ‘let down’ by authorities.
‘This is a family with a man working for a removal company 50 hours a week on average and a woman looking after all the children and working as a carer in the community in the lockdown,’ he said.
‘A care package was needed and it should not have needed to be asked for it. They should have been offered it and were not.’
The teenager weighed 22 stone and 13 lbs, with a body mass index of 70, when she was found dead in October 2020 at her home in Newtown, Powys, Wales. Pictured: Items found in Kaylea’s room)
The 16-year-old was found lying in soiled clothing and bed linen after she had passed away
The court heard yesterday how the teenager would scream for assistance, but he would simply text her to tell her to shut up.
The teenager also sent a series of tragic messages to her mother as she pleaded for help to clean her ‘leaking legs’ and to get rid of ‘baby flies’ landing on her. Instead, Lloyd-Jones replied: ‘For f*** sake.’
One message sent on September 12, 2020 – just one month before her body was found – showed Kaylea saying to her mother: ‘My leg is leaking.’
Lloyd-Jones replied, ‘For f*** sake, hang on’ before Kaylea pleaded: ‘No mum, it’s leaking.’
The court heard Kaylea also messaged Lloyd-Jones just two weeks before her death to plead for help getting rid of flies in her room. When she said, ‘It’s little baby ones landing one me’, her mother replied, ‘They like you lol.’
Paramedics discovered the disabled teenager lying on soiled puppy toilet training pads with maggots feeding on her ulcerated stomach and limbs, the court heard.
A child practice review is due to be carried out in relation to Kaylea’s death.
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