Dad guilty of killing morbidly obese daughter who weighed more than 22st at 16

The father of Kaylea Titford has been found guilty of manslaughter over the death of his disabled daughter.

Alun Titford was found at Mold Crown Court to be guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence of his 16-year-old daughter.

Kaylea was morbidly obese when she was found dead at the family home in Newtown, Powys, in October 2020.

She weighed more than 22 stone at the time of her death and suffered from spina bifida meaning she had to use a wheelchair.

At the time of her death, paramedics reported that her room was “dirty” and that her bed was surrounded by “junk food cartons” and milk bottles filled with urine.

When paramedics moved her duvet paramedics smelled “rotting flesh” in the room, the jury heard.

Her mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 39, previously admitted manslaughter via gross negligence.

Mr Titford chose a different line, however, claiming that he had had little to do with his daughter’s care and that he “wasn’t a very good father”.

Kaylea was “lively” and “fiercely independent” according to teachers at Newtown High School, and had at one point been considered for a paralympic basketball team.

But after the Covid lockdown, Kaylea didn’t come back to school, her headteacher said.

Teachers were reportedly given “multiple excuses” as to why she didn’t return to class by her mother, Sky News reports.

Members of staff at the school last had contact with Kaylea on 9 October 2020, the day before she died, Jurors at Mold Crown Court heard.

She was “seriously neglected” by her parents, prosecutors argued.

According to pathologists, her cause of death was: “Inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and its complications, and immobility in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus”.

Mr Titford later told cops that takeaway was eaten in the house around five nights a week.

Two police officers in attendance at the time of Kaylea’s death told the jury they “felt physically sick” by the smell also reported by paramedics and saw “live maggots wriggling” on her bed.

Officer David Wilkinson, told the court: “It was a shocking situation to see someone in.

“I didn’t want to see what I saw”.