Kaylea Titford: Emergency crews ‘felt physically sick’ when seeing ‘shocking’ conditions where 22-stone teenager died, court hears
A disabled teenage girl who died after becoming morbidly obese was living in “shocking” conditions that made emergency responders “feel physically sick”, a court has heard.
Kaylea Titford, 16, weighed more than 22 stone when she was found dead by paramedics at her home in Powys, Wales, in October 2020.
Her mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 39, has admitted manslaughter by gross negligence, while her father Alun Titford, 45, is on trial at Mold Crown Court after denying the same charge.
The court heard the initial 999 call, made by Kaylea’s grandmother, saying that Kaylea was “cold”, and the family were “unable to wake her”.
In a follow-up call from ambulance control, Kaylea’s father, Alun Titford, can be heard saying his daughter was “too big to move”, when asked by the 999 controller to position her on to her side.
Kaylea, who had spina bifida and needed to use a wheelchair, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Attending paramedics told the jury that her room was “dirty”, with several soiled incontinence pads on Kaylea’s mattress, on the floor and wrapped around her legs.
Her bed was surrounded by “junk food cartons”, urine-filled plastic milk cartons and that her en-suite bathroom had faeces on the floor, the court heard.
Prosecutors say Kaylea’s parents “seriously neglected” their daughter, with a pathologist’s report concluding the teenager’s cause of death as “inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and its complications, and immobility in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus”.
Kaylea’s father Alun Titford denies manslaughter by gross negligence
Read more: Morbidly obese teen died in conditions ‘unfit for any animal’
The jury heard that when paramedics moved Kaylea’s duvet a smell of “rotting flesh” filled the room.
Paramedic Gareth Evans told the court the smell made him “retch” and he believed it was from a “putrification of sorts”.
Two police officers, also in attendance, told the jury they “felt physically sick” at the smell, and saw “live maggots wriggling” on the mattress of Kaylea’s bed once her body had been moved.
“It was a shocking situation to see someone in”, officer David Wilkinson, told the court. “I didn’t want to see what I saw.”
The trial continues.
A member of rap trio Kneecap was greeted by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at court this morning, charged with allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in London in November last year.
Demonstrators waving flags and holding banners in support of the rapper greeted him with cheers as he made his way into Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The rapper is mobbed by fans and media as he arrives at court. Pics: PA
Supported by his Kneecap bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, it took the rapper more than a minute to enter the building as security officers worked to usher him inside through a crowd of photographers.
Fans held signs which read “Free Mo Chara”, while others waved Irish and Palestinian flags.
As the hearing got under way, O hAnnaidh confirmed his name, date of birth and address, with the court hearing an Irish language interpreter would be present.
During a previous hearing, prosecutors said the 27-year-old is “well within his rights” to voice his opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, but said the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town was a “wholly different thing”.
O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
Bandmates Naoise O Caireallain (pictured, centre) and JJ O Dochartaigh are supporting O hAnnaidh. Pic: Reuters
Who are Kneecap?
Kneecap put out their first single in 2017 and rose to wider prominence in 2024 after the release of their debut album and an eponymously titled film – a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and their fight to save the Irish language.
The film, in which the trio play themselves and co-star alongside starring Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender, won the BAFTA for outstanding debut earlier this year, for director and writer Rich Peppiatt.
Last year, they won a discrimination case against the UK government after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was business secretary.
They are known for songs including H.O.O.D, Fine Art, and Better Way To Live, featuring Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten.
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A council has won its bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in Essex.
Epping Forest District Council sought an interim injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.
A government attempt to delay the application was rejected by the High Court judge earlier on Tuesday.
The interim injunction now means the hotel has to be cleared of its occupants within 14 days.
Somani Hotels said it intended to appeal the decision.
Several protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
At a hearing last week, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules because the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said the problem was “getting out of hand” and “causing great anxiety” to local people.
He said the hotel “is no more a hotel [to asylum seekers] than a borstal to a young offender”.
File pic: PA
Piers Riley-Smith, for Somani Hotels Limited, said a “draconian” injunction would cause “hardship” for those in the hotel, arguing “political views” were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
He also said contracts to house asylum seekers were a “financial lifeline” for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Protesters and counter-demonstrators outside The Bell Hotel in July. Pic: PA
The hotel housed migrants from May 2020 to March 2021, then from October 2022 to April 2024, with the council never instigating any formal enforcement proceedings against this use, Mr Riley-Smith said.
They were being placed there again in April 2025 and Mr Riley-Smith said a planning application was not made “having taken advice from the Home Office”.
At the end of the hearing last week, Mr Justice Eyre ordered that Somani Hotels could not “accept any new applications” from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had made his ruling on the temporary injunction.
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