Care worker failed to visit pensioner who died from Covid in squalid conditions

Miya James lied to her bosses on a work app claiming to have called round to her home on that day and the previous day and later admitted she had ”wanted to make sure she was paid.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Wednesday, October 26, that 25-year-old James has Aspergers Syndrome and a previous conviction for perverting the course of justice and assisting an offender.

Her lawyer Paul Lewis said this did not excuse her failure to provide proper care for Ms Rigby “but I am left to wonder why she was employed by this care company in the first place.

“Her antecedent history calls into significant question her ability to make judgments and her background shows that she had a particularly challenging background and a history of making very poor decisions.”

He also pointed out that the defendant, who had never worked as a care worker before, had had “very little formal training.”

June Rigby, who was 71, was entirely dependent on others and could not get downstairs in her home in Marsland Grove, in Sutton.

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Two of her cousins regularly visited her but when she caught Covid, as did one of them, they were all forced to self-isolate for 10 days.

Straight afterwards, at midday on January 25 last year, one of them Anne Hughes hurried round but found her dead in bed. She discovered none of the food she had left 10 days earlier for carers to give her had been used. 

There was faecal staining on the carpet and her sleep apnea machine, which she needed to sleep, was downstairs by the front door.

In an impact statement Ms Hughes said going into the bedroom “can only be described as something out of a horror movie, the sight of which will never leave me.

“I have had to struggle to get this image out of my head and have experienced nightmares since June’s death due to the way in which I found her.

“To spend the last week of her life, alone without family or friends or familiar faces, dirty and without food or medication is absolutely appalling. No-one deserves to go through what June went through in those final days.

“June was failed by those in authority and who had a duty of care to help, support and care for her. We as a family would not see our pets suffer that way that June was left to suffer in her final week of life.”

She described the pensioner, who was receiving end of life care, as a hard-working, well-liked member of the community” who did not deserve to die at the hands of the private care provider.”

James, of Fell Grove, Moss Bank, a mother-of-one, pleaded guilty to wilful neglect.

James was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court (Image: Stock)

Jailing her for eight months Judge David Hale said that paid carers take on the responsibility of care and they “have to turn up and do what they can.”

She got her job as a carer with Yes Care, three months earlier and she had been due to visit Ms Rigby on the morning and lunchtime of January 24 and 25 last year.

Her duties included cleaning, feeding, watering and providing medication to the vulnerable woman. “You did not go,” said Judge Hale.

She logged onto an app provided by the care company claiming she had made the visits, one of which she later admitted to a friend she had missed through over-sleeping.

She indicated to her employers on January 24 that she was thinking of quitting but had not done so.

“One of your motivations was to make sure you were paid for going on  the 25th,” he said.

“No one suggests you could have prevented her death if you had done what you should have done or that the situation she was in was anything near perfect.

“It was miles away from perfection but you just made it worse and you deprived her possibly of some comfort in death. That is what I have to sentence you for.

“In my judgement neglect of that gravity does require a custodial sentence even bearing in mind the pressures of the job. You failed to take a responsible course.”

Stella Hayden, prosecuting, said that Ms Rigby had various serious health conditions including cardiac failure and diabetes had been discharged home from Whiston Hospital on January 7 with an eight-week care package. This was initially provided by the local council and from January 20 it was transferred to Yes Care.

The care plan involved three visits a day and carers would be responsible for fluids and meals, administration of prescribed drugs, continence care, washing and dressing, housekeeping and ensuring that Ms Rigby had her lifeline with her. 

“The care plan made clear that Ms Rigby was unable to use the stairs unaided and that all meals, drinks and medication would need to be provided to her upstairs.”

Another carer called round for the evening visit on January 24 and found her in a state of undress and drawer contents scattered on the floor. There was human faeces on the stairs which she photographed, before cleaning, and contacted her supervisor with her concerns.

After Ms Rigby’s death it became apparent that James had claimed on the company’s App that she attended twice on the afternoon January 25 - both logged at the time police were actually there investigating the death.

When interviewed by police the defendant claimed Ms Rigby could walk and get up and down the stairs. She said she attended once on January 24 when Ms Rigby said she did not want her there and did not go the next day as she had quit. She said she logged on that day to make sure she was paid.

In a later interview she said she slept through the appointment on the morning of January 25.

"The defendant stated that she has fibromyalgia which causes her to forget things. She becomes confused and tires easily.”

Miss Hayden said: “In summary, the defendant accepted that she had not attended visits on the afternoon of January 24, or the two visits she was scheduled to undertake on January 25. She maintained that she did not feel she had done anything wrong.”

A pathologist gave the cause of Ms Rigby’s death as gave the cause of death as COVID-19 with congestive cardiac failure and hypothermia. He noted she had a number of long-standing health problems including cardiac failure. 

Mr Lewis said that long-haired James, who walked into court using a wheeled walker, said she did not have access to the care plan but accepts she knew the level of care required.

“The absence of that care did not cause her (Ms Rigby) demise, it was coincidental to it but she might have allowed her final hours to be much more comfortable and more dignified,” he said.