United Kingdom: tougher sentence for parents convicted of death of obese daughter

Parents sentenced in early March to more than six years in prison for the negligent death of their daughter, an obese teenager who died in squalid conditions, saw their sentences increased on Friday, May 19 during an appeal trial.

Kaylea Titford, 16, was found in conditions described in court as "unworthy of any animal", in soiled clothes and sheets, after her death in the family home in Newton, Wales in October 2020.

Ten years in prison for the father

The teenager weighed 146 kilos and died as a result of inflammation and infection due to an ulcer resulting from her obesity and immobility. His father, Alun Titford, 45, who had denied the facts, was sentenced in early March to 7 and a half years in prison. His mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 40, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 6 years in prison. On Friday, in an appeal trial filed by the Attorney General's Office, their sentences were increased to 10 years for the father, and 8 years for the mother.

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The circumstances (of Kaylea's death) can only be described as extreme. Kaylea lived in unimaginable poverty," Judge Andrew Popplewell, one of the three magistrates who led the trial, said Friday. For the lawyer representing the Attorney General, the initial sentences were "unduly lenient" and did not reflect "guilt, the gravity of the crime and the gravity of the aggravating circumstances". Emergency services called to the teen's home on October 10, 2020 to report her death described a smell of "rot" in the room. Maggots were found at the scene and experts believe they fed on the body, it was said at the first trial.

Kaylea had lived there motionless in soiled sheets, lying on dog mats. His room was dirty and cluttered, with bottles of urine. According to the prosecution, the young woman, who had not been followed on the dietary and physical levels since 2017, had not left her bed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her wheelchair had become too small and she had not returned to school after restrictions were lifted.