A care home manager has been ordered to pay £4,000 after two wheelchair users drowned when their boat overturned during a day trip. Janice Sowden had previously admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment that led to preventable harm to Alexander Wood, Alison Tilsley and Kate Dart.
The Incident
Father-of-four Mr Wood, 43, and Ms Tilsley, 63, perished when the wheelyboat they were travelling in overturned at Roadford Lake Activity Centre in Devon. Their heavy wheelchairs pulled them beneath the surface. Ms Dart also sustained serious injuries in the tragedy.
Sowden, as the registered manager of Burdon Grange Care Home, bore responsibility for health and safety. Exeter Magistrates' Court was told she had failed to properly evaluate the dangers of the excursion in June 2022, which involved taking six residents, all wheelchair users, to the activity centre.
Prosecution Details
James Marsland, prosecuting, said: "A wheelyboat, designed to carry wheelchair users, had been hired from the centre for a trip on the lake. Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, in particular, were strapped into electric wheelchairs without any means of being released from them."
The court was told the craft began taking on water within minutes before capsizing completely. Mr Marsland said Mr Wood and Ms Tilsley were "drowned by the weight of their wheelchairs" as the chairs dragged them beneath the water. He stated: "Miss Sowden did not undertake any risk assessment in relation to the needs of the service users... Nor did she ensure that any such risk assessment did take place. This is a classic case of serious negligence."
Background and Sentencing
Sowden, from Beaworthy, Devon, took up the role of registered manager at the home in 2016 and was previously described as being "caring" and "diligent" in her duties. However, the court heard that a "cultural complacency" had set in at the home leading up to the incident and standards had deteriorated.
Judge Stuart Smith said the facility housed "extremely vulnerable" service users and it should have been glaringly obvious to Sowden that health and safety assessments needed to be carried out before the trip. He added that not enough thought was given to the abilities of staff members, one of whom couldn't swim, and labelled Sowden as "blase" about risk.
The court heard that Sowden later tried to falsify evidence of health and safety considerations after the incident, creating a bogus checklist for the boat trip to "deceive" investigators.
Penalty
On Tuesday, Sowden was ordered to pay a total of £4,090, including a £190 government surcharge and £2,000 towards prosecution costs. Addressing Sowden, Judge Smith said: "This case is nothing short of devastating... The lives of two much-loved residents, Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, have been lost. This was in no small part a direct consequence of your cavalier attitude to good health and safety practice. This incident has caused immeasurable grief to the families of Alex and Alison."
