A mother who slowly starved her Down’s Syndrome daughter to death in a filthy bedroom covered in takeaway boxes and used nappies has been jailed for nearly 10 years.
Elaine Clarke, 49, ‘bought herself handbags and shoes’ while daughter Debbie Leitch, 24, wasted away in a dark, faeces-covered room which ‘smelled of death’.
Emergency services described the scene as ‘truly shocking’, with Ms Leitch’s face ‘completely encrusted with scabs and thickened skin, such that she was no longer recognisable as being a young female’ when she was discovered on August 29, 2019.
She was suffering to such an extent that police were initially unable to identify her sex when they found her body — weighing just 3st 10lb.
A post mortem examination gave her cause of death as ‘severe emaciation and neglect with extensive and severe scabies skin infection’.
Clarke had received weekly benefit payments of £215 to care for túi xách nữ thời trang xách nữ hàng hiệu her daughter, but she pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter in December — having initially denied the offence.
She was today jailed for nine years and seven months after admitting to gross negligent manslaughter at Preston Crown Court.
Elaine Clarke (left), 49, ‘bought herself handbags and túi xách nữ thời trang xách công sở nữ đựng laptop shoes’ while daughter Debbie Leitch (right), Túi xách công sở nữ 24, wasted away in a dark, faeces-covered room which ‘smelled of death’
The court heard Ms Leitch’s condition had ‘deteriorated dramatically’ in the months leading up to her death.
John Harrison QC, prosecuting, told the court of the terrible conditions that Debbie’s decomposing body was found in when emergency services discovered her.
He said: ‘Debbie was extremely emaciated with a severe rash to the scalp, the face and the soles of the feet.The jumper and trousers worn by the deceased were filthy and mites were found crawling on them. A urine soiled nappy was found inside her trousers.
‘A live maggot was found next to the body. As her clothing was cut away from her body, bits of skin came away with it as it had adhered to her body.
‘Mites were found crawling all over her back. The trousers were covered in liquid faeces. Debbie’s hair was falling out due to the scabies rash. Her face was covered with the rash.
‘Debbie’s ribs were visible through the skin.All of her limbs were wasted and the rash was widespread on them. Her buttocks were completely covered in faeces which extended down to the thighs.
‘As the body was examined, large areas of skin fell away from the body. More than 30 per cent of her skin was covered in the rash, which was more severe in some parts of the body than others.’
Clarke’s niece, Sammy Mugridge, visited the home a month before Debbie’s death.
She found the daughter lying on a filthy mattress in a dark, foul-smelling room covered in takeaway boxes and dirty nappies.
She warned Clarke that Debbie would die if she was not looked after and subsequently reported her to social services.
Ms Mugridge told the court: ‘I’ll never forget the last day I saw Debbie alive.I knew she was ill and not well, but the sight of her in the room will live with me forever.
Ms Leitch died from severe emaciation and neglect while having to live in a squalid bedroom at her home in Blackpool
‘The stench was unbelievable.