Home manager admits safety lapse after lake deaths

A care home manager has admitted three health and social care charges after two people in wheelchairs drowned during a day trip to a Devon lake.

Father-of-four Alex Wood, 43 and Alison Tilsley, 63, died after the wheelchair-accessible boat they were passengers on capsized at Roadford Lake, near Okehampton, on 8 June 2022.

Exeter Magistrates' Court heard on Monday that a third resident, Kate Dart, was recovered from the water but was seriously injured.

Janice Sowden, 60, of Borough View, Halwill Junction in Beaworthy, admitted three counts of not providing care and treatment in a safe way for service users which resulted in avoidable harm.

District judge Stuart Smith said the incident was "devastating, harrowing and absolutely tragic".

He said the victims, residents of Burdon Grange in Highampton, had "no means of release or rescue if they entered the water" which was 130ft (39m) deep in parts.

The court heard the care home did not carry out any risk assessments and their service user clients were not fitted with life jackets and only buoyancy aids.

Smith said the care home had a complacency about risk and an over reliance on the boat hirers.

The court heard the three victims were on the second trip of the day with three home staff.

At an earlier hearing, the care home admitted the same charges and was fined £180,000 with £20,000 costs.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the "provider, manager and staff failed to assess the risks of the boat trip and did not take reasonable, practical steps to manage the risks for the highly vulnerable people in their care."

The CQC, who prosecuted the cases, said staff also failed to plan for what would happen if residents entered the water and one staff member involved could not swim.

Sowden is due to be sentenced in June.

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