Parents jailed following death of morbidly obese daughter
16 year old Kaylea Titford died in October 2020 weighing almost 23 stone
Last updated 1st Mar 2023
A mother and father who killed their morbidly obese daughter after leaving her bed-ridden in squalor have been jailed.
Kaylea Titford, 16, was found in conditions described as "unfit for any animal", in soiled clothing and bed linen, following her death at the family home in Newtown, Powys, in October 2020.
The teenager's parents were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court by Mr Justice Griffiths.
Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 40, was imprisoned for six years while Alun Titford, 45, was told he would spend seven years and six months behind bars.
The 16-year-old weighed 22st 13lb, with a BMI of 70, at the time of her death.
It was the first sentencing hearing in Wales to be filmed since the law was changed to allow cameras into crown courts last year.
Lloyd-Jones had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence while Titford was convicted of the same offence after trial.
His trial heard Kaylea, who had spina bifida and used a wheelchair, died after suffering inflammation and infection from ulceration, arising from obesity and immobility.
Emergency service workers, who were called to the house after she was found on October 10, described feeling sick due to a "rotting" smell in her room.
Following her death, maggots were found which were thought to have been feeding on her body, the jury was told.
The court heard that her bedsheets were soiled and she was lying on a number of puppy toilet training pads.
Her room was said to be dirty and cluttered, with bottles of urine and a chip fryer with drips of fat down the side, as well as a full cake in a box.
Kaylea had attended Newtown High School, where she was described as "funny and chatty" by staff, but did not return following the coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.
Asked during his evidence why he had let his daughter down so badly, the removals worker said: "I'm lazy."
Titford, who had six children with Lloyd-Jones, said the family would order takeaways four or five nights a week and he thought Kaylea had put on two or three stone since March.
The prosecution alleged that Kaylea had not used her wheelchair, which became too small for her, since the start of lockdown.
Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, asked Titford: "She hadn't been out of bed, had she?"
But he claimed he had seen her in the kitchen of the house in her wheelchair during that period, despite telling police in interview that he had not seen her out of bed.
The court heard that Kaylea had been discharged from physiotherapy and dietetics services in the years before her death and had last been seen by a social worker at home in 2017.
Titford claimed Lloyd-Jones, who was a community care worker, was responsible for looking after Kaylea.
He said he used to take her to medical appointments and care for her but stepped back when she reached puberty as he was not "comfortable".
In cross-examination he accepted he was as much to blame for Kaylea's death as her mother.
Mr Justice Griffiths rejected the assertion that Kaylea Titford had been let down by various agencies, saying that professionals had worked with the family over many years.
"There was a history of missed appointments," he said.
"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."
Passing sentence on Sarah Lloyd-Jones and Alun Titford at Swansea Crown Court, Mr Justice Griffiths said they had committed "shocking and prolonged neglect over lockdown".
"(Kaylea) would not allow people so much as to push her wheelchair or open a door for her. Everything she could do for herself, she did," the judge said.
"But she died just after her 16th birthday.
"You, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, her mother, and you, Alun Titford, her father, caused her death by shocking and prolonged neglect over lockdown.
"Which you, by your guilty plea, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, and the jury by a unanimous verdict, Alun Titford, have proved to be gross negligence manslaughter on your part.
"For those crimes, I now pass sentence."
Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court both Sarah Lloyd-Jones and Alun Titford had neglected their daughter.
"The prosecution say that the evidence in the trial from the experts demonstrates the extreme nature of the neglect of Kaylea Titford and the suffering she must have gone through during this time," she said.
"To summarise, the last months of Kaylea Titford's life must have been horrendous. She was a severely disabled child who needlessly had become bed-bound, trapped in appalling conditions, surrounded by her own filth.
"It was a rancid combination of urine, faeces and secretions from her own body, including her ulcerated limbs.
"It was in that environment that she spent every minute of every day for months.
"During this time her skin deteriorated through a cycle of the interaction between poor nutrition, hygiene, weight and lack of mobility.
"The puppy pads caused further excoriation of the skin and a mixture of urine and faeces caused acid burn.
"While still alive, the evidence shows she would have been surrounded by flies, with maggots feeding on her rotten limbs and secretions.
"She lived like that for what we say is an extended period of time."
Caroline Rees KC told Swansea Crown Court: "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."
Ms Rees said that as Kaylea's condition worsened the family's expenditure on takeaways increased.
Caroline Rees KC told Swansea Crown Court how Kaylea Titford, who had spina bifida, had not returned to school in Newtown since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, and had not seen a doctor for at least six months.
"Because of the lockdown, Kaylea's exposure to those outside her family was extremely limited," Ms Rees told the court.
"This allowed both defendants to avoid the scrutiny of the outside world."
Opening submissions during the sentencing of Alun Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones over the death of their disabled daughter, Caroline Rees KC, prosecuting, 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."
An NSPCC Cymru spokesperson said: "This is an incredibly distressing case.
"The conscious, prolonged neglect of Kaylea Titford by her parents, Sarah Lloyd-Jones and Alun Titford, ultimately caused the teenager's death.
"People will be asking how any child in our society could suffer like this without anyone intervening to prevent such a tragedy.
"The forthcoming Child Safeguarding Practice Review must leave no stone unturned in establishing what more could have been done to protect Kaylea so other children do not suffer such appalling neglect unnoticed."