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The parents of Kaylea Titford have been jailed over the death of their disabled daughter, 16, after they allowed her to become morbidly obese and die bed-ridden in horrendous conditions..
Father Alun Titford, 45, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence at trial last month. He was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison today (Wednesday, March 1).
Mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 40, who previously admitted manslaughter by gross negligence, was sentenced to six years in prison.
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Kaylea, who suffered from spina bifida and needed a wheelchair, was morbidly obese when she was found dead in a maggot infested room at her home in Newtown, Powys, Wales, in October 2020.
The teenager weighed 22st 13lb with a BMI of 70 and had significant injuries and medical issues at the time of her death.
The court heard that her parents had let her weight balloon during the Covid-19 lockdown, and did not even attempt to send her back to school when it reopened.
"This was not a lapse, it was a long and sustained period of criminal negligence", Mr Justice Griffiths told the court.
"By the time of her death, she was lying in her own filth, surrounded by flies that bothered her and maggots that fed on her," the judge went on.
"This was a horrifying case of sustained neglect leading to the death of a bed-ridden, vulnerable, disabled child at the hands of her own parents.
"I have no doubt that the suffering and degradation she suffered before she died was prolonged and significant."
The bedroom she was forced to live in was described as “unfit for any animal”.
Her bed was surrounded by "junk food cartons" and milk bottles filled with urine, and paramedics smelled "rotting flesh" when they moved her duvet, a court previously heard.
Kaylea was left to lie in soiled clothing, on filthy bed linen and puppy training pads.
She died after obesity and immobility caused ulcerations, which in turn led to inflammation and infection.
The court heard today the girl’s socks had to be "peeled" off like a plaster, and such was the state of the foot due to severe ulceration "it was barely recognisable as a human foot". One of the ulcers Kaylea’s right foot was so deep it was down to the bone.
Live maggots were found on her dead body that were thought to be feeding on her in her final days.
Paramedic Gareth Evans said the smell inside the room made him "wretch". He added that Kaylea's wheelchair was stacked "high with pillows" and her mechanical hoist, which could help move Kaylea out of bed, was "covered with cobwebs"
It also emerged today that Kaylea had not used a bathroom for six months before her death. She had been bed-bound for months and ate, slept, and defecated in her bed.
The court heard of a text sent by the girl to her mother in August 2020 telling her the flies landing on her body were "doing her head in" – Lloyd-Jones replied: "They like you LOL."
Kaylea was a student at Newtown High School but did not return after the Covid lockdown in March 2020.
Teachers were reportedly given "multiple excuses" as to why she didn't return to class by her mother.
Members of staff at the school last had contact with Kaylea on October 9 2020, the day before she died, a court previously heard.
Titford previously claimed that Lloyd-Jones was responsible for Kaylea’s care.
The removals worker told the court he "wasn't a very good father". When asked why he had let his daughter down so badly, he said: "I’m lazy."
He also told police the family would have takeaways five nights a week, including Chinese and Indian.
The court heard today the family spent £1,035.76 spent on takeaways in the last three months of Kaylea’s life, with the spending increasing as her condition got worse.
Today's hearing at Swansea Crown Court was the first court hearing in Wales to be televised.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Griffiths said he did not accept either parent's attempts to blame the situation on the other.
"I find it impossible to say that one parent was more to blame than the other. They were both equally responsible and they were both equally culpable," he told the court.
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