by 
Shocking photos show the ‘rancid’ conditions in which disabled teen Kaylea Titford was forced to live for months before finally dying due to her parents’ gross negligence.
16-year-old Kaylea, who suffered from spina bifida, was left to die at home in Newton, Wales, after her parents allowed her to become morbidly obese during lockdown.
At the time of her death, the disabled teenager weighed 22.13 pounds with a BMI of 70, and her body was found in her bedroom in conditions described as “unfit for any animal.”
Photos of Kaylea’s bedroom taken by investigators showed an infestation of fly and bug larvae in her clothes and sheets, while the hoist used to lift the young girl to bed was covered in flies and other excrement.
A bottle of urine and a catheter were spotted in the corner of the room, along with an air fryer and a large box of cake, while absorbent pads lay strewn across the bathroom floor.
When police arrived on the scene, the stench of unwashed feces was so strong that one of the officers “almost fell ill.”
On Wednesday, Kaylea’s parents, Alun Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones, were sentenced to seven years, six months and six years respectively in prison for grossly negligent manslaughter at Swansea Crown Court.
During the trial, the court heard how the teen was unable to get out of bed for several months before her death in October 2020 and had not used a shower or toilet since before the March lockdown earlier this year.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC said: “By the time of her death between October 9 and 10, Kaylea Titford was living in conditions unsuitable for any animal, let alone a vulnerable 16-year-old girl who was dependent on others. .
“Kaylea lived and died in misery and degradation.”
Rescue teams were called to her home after a 999 call made by Kaylea’s grandmother.
Upon arrival, paramedics found her sitting upright in bed with soiled clothes and her back covered in sores.
Kaylea’s armpits were almost black and she had “weeping raw” ulcers so deep they went down to the bone.
There were also maggots on her body where she was “laying in her own filth”, as well as on her absorbent pads and soiled sheets.
The worms were said to “feed on the flesh itself” for at least 48 hours.
Prior to the first Covid lockdown in 2020, Kaylea was described as a “fiercely independent” girl who played wheelchair sports at school and hoped to become a Paralympic athlete.
But during isolation, she quickly gained weight after her parents fed her takeaway “four or five times a week” and became bedridden after outgrowing her wheelchair.
It has been heard that in the last three months of Kaylea’s life, £1,035.76 was spent on takeaways.
In sentencing Sarah Lloyd-Jones and Alun Titford, Judge Griffiths said the parents had committed “shocking and prolonged neglect in relation to the lockdown”.
“(Kaylea) wouldn’t let people push her wheelchair or open her door. Everything she could do for herself, she did,” the judge said.
“But she died just after her sixteenth birthday.
“You, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, her mother, and you, Alun Titford, her father, caused her death through the shocking and prolonged neglect of the lockdown.
“Which you, Sara Lloyd-Jones, by pleading guilty, and the jury by unanimous verdict, Aluna Titford, have proven gross negligence.”
“For these crimes, I am now passing sentence.”
Contact our news team by emailing webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check out our news page.
