Husband and son jailed for 'shocking' neglect death

The husband and son of a severely malnourished and dehydrated woman have been jailed for the “shocking and reprehensible” neglect which led to her death.

Dorothy Morgan, 71, died 10 days after she was admitted to hospital in February 2021.

On Monday her husband Robert Christopher Morgan, 61, was jailed for three years and 53-year-old David Alan Holyoak - her son by another man - was handed a term of two years and eight months.

The pair had denied manslaughter by gross negligence.

Prosecutor Iain Simkin KC told Carlisle Crown Court Mrs Morgan had been unable to take care “of her own basic human needs” in the weeks leading up to her hospital admission.

She had been left lying immobile in her own waste on a heavily soiled downstairs sofa at her home in Calder Avenue, Whitehaven.

She was also suffering from the onset of sepsis up to 48 hours before an ambulance was finally called.

The court heard that despite Mrs Morgan’s condition worsening, the pair “stood by and allowed - watched - as she deteriorated in her own filth”.

On 25 January 2021, her husband called an on-call health operator and then 999, telling the call handler: “She looks like something from a death camp. She can’t go on like this.”

Both he and Holyoak claimed in evidence they were following Mrs Morgan’s explicit instructions that no help be sought.

Yet in a text message to a friend in October, 2020, Holyoak said he thought his mother was “depressed and malnourished”.

“This sounds like you are watching a lady die,” the friend had responded.

When asked under cross-examination by Mr Simkin what provisions there had been to ensure Mrs Morgan was cared for, Holyoak replied: “I don’t remember any.”

He conceded: “I should have done more.”

Morgan’s barrister, Richard English, said: “He has not got over the loss of his wife. He still grieves for her. He misses his wife every day.”

Robert Elias, for Holyoak, said: “It is an extremely unusual case where the people who mourn Dorothy Morgan are the same people who are in the dock.”

Passing sentence, Judge Suzanne Goddard KC accepted Mrs Morgan had not seen a GP for several years, nor had wanted to see a doctor and did not want to eat.

But she concluded neither man had spent any significant time with her and that they sought help “only at the last minute”.

“Both of you must carry the heavy burden of knowing that your gross negligence led to Dorothy Morgan’s death,” the judge said.

Following sentencing, Det Supt Matt Scott of Cumbria Police spoke of a “particularly distressing” case.

He said: “Both Morgan and Holyoak have acknowledged the level [of care] was short, but short doesn’t cover it.

"It was woefully inadequate – horrendous levels of care which have led to this lady’s death.”

“Dorothy died in pain, essentially alone. That’s not acceptable.”

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