Kaylea Titford: Tragic teen left to die alone at home by parents

Everyone who knew Kaylea Titford said she was a beauteous miss - and surviving astatine location with her moving parents, determination was a feeling everything was okay.

Kaylea dealt with challenges aft being calved with spina bifida, yet loved wheelchair hoops and was talked of arsenic a imaginable Paralympian.

So however did a fiercely independent, comic teen go a unfortunate of specified gross negligence and dice unsocial aged 16?

Her parents look jailhouse for manslaughter by gross negligence adjacent month.

Some readers whitethorn find details and pictures successful this communicative distressing.

The shocking details astir however a morbidly obese teenager, weighing astir 23st (146 kg), was treated by those who were expected to attraction for her and the grim circumstances of her decease person made planetary headlines.

The courtroom heard she had been restricted to her furniture for much than six months - since the commencement of the UK's Covid lockdown - erstwhile she died astatine her mid Wales location successful October 2020.

But beyond headlines of the "squalid" and "inhumane" conditions successful which a bed-ridden Kaylea lived and tragically died, determination was a "lovely and pleasant" young woman, who had precocious celebrated her 16th birthday, seemingly with her full beingness up of her.

Not agelong earlier that, Kaylea was a "quiet yet cheeky" miss who showed "impressive potential" connected the wheelchair hoops tribunal of her hometown of Newtown successful Powys.

"She was a fantastic idiosyncratic and utilized to effort paper games - and she could cheat amended than maine successful the end," joked her aged manager Steve Cox.

"She was softly playful. Board games similar Jenga excessively - and determination was pool, she'd cheat astatine excavation too!

"I'd instrumentality a shot, I'd crook my backmost and erstwhile I look around, there'd beryllium a mates of balls missing and she'd springiness maine this sly grin!

"She was precise pleasant, a joyousness to enactment with. It was a shame we couldn't person worked with her a spot more.

"She was rather impressive. We would person liked to get her higher up the disablement athletics ladder for, I'd say, we could person got her into the Paralympics astatine a push."

Steve isn't the lone 1 to callback Kaylea's beardown will, arsenic her erstwhile learning enactment adjunct testified astatine her father's manslaughter proceedings that she was "fiercely independent".

Belinda Jones, who archetypal began helping Kaylea astatine Newtown High School successful 2016, told Mold Crown Court she was initially precise autarkic and could propulsion herself astir successful her chair.

Kaylea went to Steve's grooming sessions betwixt the ages of 10 and 12 and said helium and others successful the wheelchair hoops circles thought she was a imaginable "star of the future".

"The aboriginal stages of wheelchair hoops is truly difficult, but Kaylea surely took to it similar a duck to water," recalled Steve.

"I saw the imaginable for scoring a handbasket and the contention betwixt maine and her. I couldn't triumph - she was ever truthful determined arsenic good arsenic being affable and sociable.

"She besides knew that I'm not precise technical, truthful took large pleasance successful teaching maine however to usage a mobile telephone arsenic anybody who is my property volition realise it's a challenge. She treated maine similar a caveman basically."

After leaving wheelchair basketball, Kaylea and Steve crossed paths again erstwhile helium was progressive successful the section younker nine she went to arsenic a 14-year-old.

"By then, she was a small spot quieter and withdrawn compared to the miss I was utilized to who would instrumentality large pleasance successful putting maine down and having fun," helium recalled.

"I retrieve the cheeky smile, the wind-up portion of Kaylea arsenic good arsenic her determination and interior strength."

So proceeding the appalling quality of what subsequently happened to 1 of his erstwhile pupils - and 1 that helium remembered truthful fondly - was pugnacious for Steve to hear.

"Personally I find it hard to work astir it," helium said.

"Especially due to the fact that it's idiosyncratic you know.

"The archetypal happening you bash is deliberation could we person done more? But aft a clip you think, I did everything I could.

"I can't get my caput astir it - and successful tiny places similar Newtown, a youngster passing distant hits the full town. I don't adjacent deliberation it's wholly sunk successful with radical yet."

Kaylea's 40-year-old mum Sarah Jane Lloyd-Jones, a parent of six, had previously admitted manslaughter by gross negligence and present Kaylea's dada Alun Titford, 45, has been convicted excessively - and some await sentencing.

His proceedings had heard Kaylea's mum dealt with payment calls from her school, particularly during the 2020 Covid lockdown, and 1 Newtown High telephone log introduction said "mum struggling to enactment Kaylea astatine location portion juggling enactment arsenic a carer".

Titford was asked successful tribunal what helium had done to assistance his spouse attraction for their disabled child, and helium said "nothing", admitting it was "possible" things would person been antithetic if helium had helped. 

The removal idiosyncratic accepted helium could person been a amended begetter but said "I got lazy, bushed aft work" and would bash "nothing" astatine location and conscionable watched tv astatine nighttime successful his bedroom.

Titford's defence barrister claimed successful tribunal Kaylea was "let down" by wellness and societal services.

David Elias said she was discharged from physiotherapy successful 2017 successful the aforesaid twelvemonth a societal idiosyncratic agreed with Lloyd-Jones that determination was nary relation for the children-with-disabilities team.

The pursuing year, Mr Elias told Mold Crown Court Kaylea was discharged from a dietetics work due to the fact that Lloyd-Jones did not marque a caller appointment.

The question authorities volition present effort to get to the bottommost of is whether they could person done much to assistance and forestall Kaylea's death.

Wales' erstwhile children's commissioner Sally Holland has said the "appalling circumstances" successful which Kaylea died makes this 1 of the "most horrifying cases" she had travel crossed successful much than 25 years successful children's services.

A child signifier review, which is simply a multi-agency safeguarding study, is already underway.

This volition analyse if immoderate kid extortion lessons should beryllium learned - and what effect lockdown had connected Kaylea's care.

"The reappraisal volition look astatine were determination missed opportunities to talk to Kaylea directly," said Prof Holland.

"We cognize there's a hazard erstwhile children are not seen and spoken to directly. We've seen countless cases implicit the decades wherever children person not been seen and we've aboriginal recovered retired that they were successful a hopeless authorities of being abused oregon neglected."

Social enactment advisor Delyth Lloyd Griffiths said Kaylea's schoolhouse was "good" astatine logging conversations with her mum.

She added that the signifier reappraisal volition look into whether the authorities could person done much to assistance a household that had told the schoolhouse they were struggling.

"In presumption of societal services, were they involved?" she asked.

"Were determination referrals made? Were they giving the household services anterior to lockdown? That's what the reappraisal volition answer."

Child extortion adept David Niven, however, thinks that portion Kaylea was neglected, the calamity could beryllium "far much bittersweet than bad".

"The parents sounded a spot overwhelmed and incapable of knowing that level of knowing what to do," helium said.

"Or if, arsenic they say, Kaylea was a precise headstrong girl, past lasting up to her and insisting they attraction for her nary substance what, due to the fact that that was their parental responsibility.

"It is imaginable she slipped done the societal services nett successful lockdown, but besides possibly she was unavoidably missed due to the fact that she wasn't considered to beryllium astatine hazard and the household wasn't considered to beryllium a unsafe place.

"When you compound that with lockdown, a 15 to 20% societal idiosyncratic vacancy rate, and that the astir urgent cases had to beryllium seen by remaining staff, past it's not astonishing that if these were the issues, that Kaylea whitethorn person been bypassed."

Powys assembly has said it volition not remark until the signifier reappraisal has been completed.

If you person been affected by immoderate of the issues successful this story, the BBC Action Line has links to organisations which tin connection enactment and advice