Kaylea Titford: parents who let disabled daughter, 16, die in 'unimaginable squalor' have jail terms increased

Warning: readers may find details of this story distressing

A mother and father jailed for leaving their disabled 16-year-old daughter to die "in squalor" have had their sentences increased, to eight years and 10 years respectively at the Court of Appeal.

Kaylea Titford, whose disability left her wheelchair-bound and dependent on others for her care, was found lying in soiled clothing and bed linen after she died at her home in Newton, Powys, Wales, in October 2020, weighing 22 stone and 13lbs, with a body mass index of 70.

Her parents, father Alun Titford and mother Sarah Lloyd-Jones, were originally sentenced at the Swansea Crown Court on 1 March, in the first court hearing in Wales to be televised. Titford was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence at Mold Crown Court in early February. Lloyd-Jones, 39, pleaded guilty to the same charge last year.

Justice Griffiths sentenced Titford to seven years and six months imprisonment, and Lloyd-Jones to six years. But on Friday (19 May), Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mrs Justice McGowan and His Honour Judge Bate, said at the Court of Appeal: “The circumstances can only be categorised as extreme, Kaylea was living in unimaginable squalor.”

William Emlyn Jones KC, representing the Attorney General’s Office, said: “By virtue of the combination of the duration of the neglect, the nature of the victim’s prolonged suffering, the extent of the victim’s vulnerability and absolute dependence on her parents for care, and ultimately, the appalling conditions in which she was left to live and ultimately die, this is an offence which falls into the definition of ‘extreme’.”

Lewis Power KC and David Elias KC, representing Lloyd-Jones and Titford respectively, both argued the original sentences were “well placed”. Reporters in the courtroom said Lloyd-Jones, watching via video-link, was unmoved as her jail term was increased to eight years, while Titford was not present to hear his sentence rise to 10 years.

Mr Emlyn Jones said the original sentences were “unduly lenient”, concluding they failed to reflect “culpability, the seriousness of the offending, and the gravity of the aggravating features”, while Lord Justice Popplewell said Kaylea was in “very considerable pain, misery and distress”, and in an “utterly degrading” despite being vulnerable.

In the original sentencing, Mr Griffiths told the court the teen had always been as independent as she could. “(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,” he said.

In her opening submissions during the sentencing on Wednesday, prosecutor Caroline Rees KC said: “By the time of her death between October 9 [and] 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,” she said. Ms Rees told the court Kaylea, who had spina bifida, had not returned to school 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.”

The court heard Kaylea had been bed-bound for months before her death, and her condition worsened the more the family spent on takeaways. “Kaylea had not used the toilet or shower since before lockdown,” Ms Rees said. “During the last months of her life she was bed-bound, eating, sleeping and defecating in her own bed.”

Kaylea’s skin was “severely inflamed and ulcerated, so deeply in areas that the fat was exposed”. Ms Rees said when the teenager was moved from where she had died, “police officers then observed her bed and saw maggots in various stages of development crawling over the bed”.

In mitigation, Lewis Power KC, representing Kaylea’s mother Lloyd-Jones, said his client had been evaluated as having low average intellect and a major depressive disorder. “During the lockdown period, when so many people suffered not just mentally but in socialisation, she became gradually overwhelmed,” Mr Power told the court.

“Her coping strategies coupled with lockdown led her to develop major depression and she was no longer able to care for her daughter’s needs. It escalated to the horrendous situation where she withdrew from her everyday responsibilities and led the catastrophic outcome,” he said.

Mr Power said Lloyd-Jones was a “kind, diligent and loving mother” for the majority of Kaylea’s life, adding that she was remorseful. “She accepts she neglected her duties of looking after her daughter.”

The court heard she sent messages to her husband begging him for help, telling him in one: “I’m absolutely exhausted, I can’t cope working and doing everything… all I’ve done is cry all day. I need you to help me.”

Text messages between Kaylea and her mother were also read to the hearing, including one in which the teenager said she had soiled herself. After her mother replied in frustration, Kaylea sent back: “Why do you get mad? It’s not my fault.”

When father Alun Titford was asked during his trial why he had failed to care for his disabled daughter, he told the court: “I’m lazy.”

Kaylea had been discharged from physiotherapy and dietetics services years before she died and last seen by a social worker in 2017. Titford said that he would often care for her when she was younger but was not “comfortable” delivering the same care after she reached puberty.

David Alias KC, representing Titford, said his client took a lesser role in Kaylea’s care as she reached puberty and was not trained in certain procedures unlike his wife.

“This is a family with a man working for a removal company 50 hours a week on average and a woman looking after all the children and working as a carer in the community in the lockdown,” he said. “A care package was needed and it should not have needed to be asked for it. They should have been offered it and were not.”