A man found guilty of the manslaughter of his emaciated wife after she was left to ‘die in her own filth’ during lockdown weighing only four stone was today jailed for three years.

Frail Dorothy Morgan, 71, weighed just four-and-a-half stone when she was finally admitted to hospital in January 2021.

She was severely malnourished and clinically dehydrated after having been denied water for a week, and tragically died ten days later.

Husband Christopher Morgan, 61, and 53-year-old David Holyoak, her son by a previous relationship, were both convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after a trial which heard both ‘stood by’ and ‘watched’ as she ‘deteriorated in her own filth’.

Jailing Morgan – who admitted his wife had been left looking ‘like something from a death camp’ – for his ‘gross and serious’ neglect, a judge said it was clear the security worker ‘could have done so much more’.

Christopher Morgan, 61, was convicted of the manslaughter by gross negligence of his frail wife Dorothy Morgan, 71, who was left to 'die in her own filth' during lockdown weighing only four stone

Christopher Morgan, 61, was convicted of the manslaughter by gross negligence of his frail wife Dorothy Morgan, 71, who was left to ‘die in her own filth’ during lockdown weighing only four stone

She said Holyoak – who was given a sentence of two years and eight months in prison – hadn’t wanted her to die but had ‘ignored the warning signs’.

Afterwards the senior detective who investigated the ‘harrowing’ final days of the retired factory worker branded her betrayal by those closest to her as ‘shocking, reprehensible and disgusting’.

‘The elderly in our community, especially those who are close family members, deserve respect, trust and to be cared for in those final days,’ said Detective Superintendent Matt Scott, of Cumbria Police.

‘Not to be left, essentially, to die in their own filth as a result of poor care, at best.’

A domestic homicide review is now underway to find out whether social services or the NHS could have done more to help Mrs Morgan.

Paramedics were called to her home in Whitehaven during the third English Covid lockdown in January 2021 and found her emaciated, with deep pressure sores and the onset of sepsis and gangrene.

For several weeks she had been left lying, immobile, on a heavily-soiled downstairs sofa.

The pair’s trial at Carlisle Crown Court heard that since mid-December 2020 ‘reclusive’ Mrs Morgan would have been ‘unable to take care of her own basic human needs’.

Yet no help was summoned until January 25 when her husband dialled first an on-call health operator and then 999, saying: ‘I’ve got a problem with the wife.

‘She looks like something from a death camp. She can’t go on like this.’

Mrs Morgan died in hospital from emaciation and neglected infected pressure sores.

Both her husband and son told their trial they were simply following her explicit instructions that no help be sought.

Dorothy's son by a previous relationship, 53-year-old David Holyoak, was also convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after a trial which heard he and Christopher both 'stood by' and 'watched' as she 'deteriorated in her own filth'

Dorothy’s son by a previous relationship, 53-year-old David Holyoak, was also convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after a trial which heard he and Christopher both ‘stood by’ and ‘watched’ as she ‘deteriorated in her own filth’

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 what provisions there had been to ensure Mrs Morgan was cared for, Holyoak replied: ‘I don’t remember any.’

Jailing them both today, Judge Suzanne Goddard KC accepted Mrs Morgan had not seen a GP for several years and did not want to eat.

But she told them: ‘Both of you must carry the heavy burden of knowing that your gross negligence led to Dorothy Morgan’s death.’

Det Supt Scott said the case had been a ‘harrowing’ one.

‘It was a difficult case to deal with in that Dorothy had been left emaciated, dehydrated and in her own urine and faeces for a prolonged period of time,’ he added.

‘Nobody deserves to die in that way.’

The couple met in 1997 and little was known about the earlier life of ‘strong-willed’ Mrs Morgan, who worked at the world-famous Kangol clothing factory until it closed down in 2009.

But she was known to be a keen painter until her eyesight began to fail and she started to ‘withdraw’ from society.

No photographs of her were found at the family home.

The detective said his view was the pair ‘didn’t care about Dorothy’.

They displayed ‘nonchalance’ at the start of the police investigation until they realised ‘the gravity of their own personal situation’, he said.

A domestic homicide review being carried out by Cumberland Community Safety Partnership will ‘identify any lessons to be learnt’ from Mrs Morgan’s ‘tragic’ death.

Post source: Daily mail

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