Kaylea Titford: ‘Revolting’ pictures reveal how obese girl, 16, died in ‘squalor and degradation’

Jurors have been shown pictures of the “revolting” bedroom where an obese teenager was found dead.

Kaylea Titford, 16, weighed 22st and 13Ibs, with a body mass index of 70, when she died in October 2020 at her home in Powys, Wales, where she was found lying in soiled clothing and bed linen.

Her father Alun Titford, 45, denies manslaughter by gross negligence and is standing trial at Mold Crown Court.

On Friday, the jury was shown photographs and body-worn footage of Kaylea’s living conditions, with the prosecution describing them as “squalor and degradation”.

The images – which the defence conceded were “revolting” and “horrific” – reveal how the disabled teenager, who had spina bifida and was wheelchair-bound, was forced to lie in soiled clothing and bed linen.

The court was earlier told that police described an “unbearable” rotting smell and maggots and flies on her body.

Pictures released on Friday showed larvae and puparia on the teenager’s bedding and fly dirt on a hoist used to lift her.

The bedroom was also seen to be full of clutter and debris, including cooking equipment and piles of clothing.

The conditions were previously described by prosecutor Caroline Rees as “unfit for any animal”.

Kaylea, who depended entirely on others for her care, was found lying on filthy “puppy pads” and had not been washed for weeks, jurors were told.

She had dirty and matted hair and ulcerated skin, including pressure sores on her legs.

Defending Alun Titford, David Elias KC told the jury to “divorce” themselves from the “graphic nature” of the images.

“The horror at the end of the case is not the benchmark necessarily for guilt or innocence.

“It is revolting, it is horrific, there is no dispute about it, but you have to look at how it got to that point.”

Kaylea and her family were “let down” by health and social services, Mr Elias said in his closing speech.

“Not every family who is let down ends up in the situation we have seen, thank heavens, but it is important evidence, we submit, in the context of this defendant’s behaviour.”

Kaylea was discharged from physiotherapy in 2017 and a year later was discharged from a dietetics service because her mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, failed to make a new appointment.

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In April 2017, a social worker agreed with Ms Lloyd-Jones that there was no role for the team specialising in children with disabilities, the court heard.

Ms Lloyd-Jones, who has six children with Titford, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence, the jury were told.

She was responsible for most of Kaylea’s care when she reached puberty, with Titford stepping back because he wasn’t “comfortable”.

Titford, a removal worker, worked up to 50 hours a week and 15 days straight before Kaylea died.

Mr Elias said: “Here is a defendant who was working throughout, who we say quite rightly because he was entitled to, because of everything that she had done so well, truly believed until the day Kaylea was found that Sarah Lloyd-Jones was doing the right thing, was giving the right treatment, and didn’t know that she wasn’t.”

He said it was “reasonable” for Titford to believe his partner was looking after Kaylea and dealing with the danger of the pressure sores on her legs.

“It was Sarah who was dealing with that, and that’s not passing the buck, that’s what was happening.”

Titford, of Colwyn, Newtown in Powys, also denies an alternative count of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial has been adjourned to Monday when Judge Martin Griffiths will sum up the case and the jury is expected to begin deliberating.