GUILTY UK - Jordan Burling, 18, Died Weighing Less Than 6 Stone, Body Of Baby Also Found, Leeds, June 2016

[Kankan]

Thanks for all the great updates on this case. I had thought this is how it may end. Sad sad case.

 

[Tortoise]

Jordan's 25-year-old sister Abigail Burling was found not guilty of manslaughter, as well as an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable person.

Radio Aire News (@radioairenews) | Twitter

The above tweet has since been taken down.

 

[Tortoise]

Trial (Part Heard) - Case adjourned until 14:15 - 13:13
Trial (Part Heard) - Resume - 14:23

Leeds Crown Court Listings, hearings, cases & details

 

[silverjug]

According to BBC (cannot link) they have been found guilt of Man Slaughter

 

[Tortoise]

All three defendants are likely to be sentenced later this week.

Mother and grandmother guilty of manslaughter over teen 'left to rot' at Leeds house

 

[Tortoise]

Trial (Part Heard) - Legal Submissions - 14:34

Leeds Crown Court Listings, hearings, cases & details

 

[Tortoise]

14:56KEY EVENT
Sentencing on Thursday
Dawn and Denise Cranston will be sentenced for the manslaughter of 18-year-old Jordan Burling on Thursday morning at Leeds Crown Court.
Mr Burling’s sister, Abigail Burling, will be sentenced at the same time, after being found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable person.
They were granted bail until then.

Jury reaches verdict in case of dead teen found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

14:00
'Words cannot begin to convey the extent of Jordan’s terrible suffering'
Gerry Wareham, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), has released a statement after the jury reached its verdict.

He said: “This is one of the most shocking cases CPS Yorkshire and Humberside has ever dealt with.

“These women had a duty of care towards Jordan. However, the CPS showed the court that instead they allowed him to rot to death in his own home.

“His bed sores were so deep they left bone exposed and when he died, he weighed less than six stone.

“An expert said it was the worst case of malnutrition they have seen in 26 years’ experience, and likened Jordan’s condition to that of a World War Two concentration camp victim.

“Words cannot begin to convey the extent of Jordan’s terrible suffering at the hands of the very people he should have been able to trust the most. Those responsible for that suffering have been found guilty of causing his death.”

Jury reaches verdict in case of dead teen found in Leeds house
_________________

There's also a recap of the timeline in this article. It sort of takes me back to how I felt at the start of the trial.

Maybe the jury got this right. Maybe I'll change my mind, yet again, in an hour or so.

TIME LINE
The case of the Cranstons

1. June 30 in 2016
   
   
   
   
   
   Dawn Cranston phones 999 and asks for an ambulance because she is concerned about her son Jordan's health.
   
   She tells the call handler her son has been 'poorly for a few months' and is 'having problems breathing'.
   
   Minutes after the paramedics arrive at Dawn's house in Farnley, Jordan goes into cardiac arrest and dies.
   
   During the trial, Nicholas Lumley QC, prosecuting, said: "What met the eyes of the paramedics was a shocking and disturbing scene.
   
   "Jordan was lying, utterly helpless, on an inflatable mattress in a cluttered living room.
   
   "He was little more than skin and bones. He weighed 37kg, less than 6 stones.
   
   "He wore a soiled nappy under some pyjamas."
   
   Police officers are then called to the scene.
   
   During the trial, PC Ben McNamara said when he arrived at Dawn's home the first thing she asked was “How much does a funeral cost?”
   
   
2. July 2016
   
   
   
   
   Dawn's house is searched by police.
   
   When officers are searching a wardrobe in Jordan's room, they find a rucksack that has several plastic bags inside.
   
   Inside one of those plastic bags is the remains of a baby boy that Dawn had given birth to in the 1990s.
   
   Dawn later tells the police and the jury that it was a still birth and she put the child inside the bags when she was sure he was dead.
   
   During the trial, Mr Lumley said: "As the police handled the rucksack, taking it down from the place where it would have been, a rancid smelling liquid began to seep from the layers of bags.
   
   "Amongst the liquid were tiny bones. All that remained of a baby boy."
   
   Dr Kirsten Hope, a Home Office pathologist, also carried out an autopsy on Jordan's body.
   
   During the trial, she told the court there were signs of malnutrition and dehydration, large pressure ulcers, no muscle in his thighs and a weakness in his bones.
   
   
3. August 2016
   
   
   
   
   Five weeks after Jordan's death, his mother is arrested after she returns home from a shopping trip.
   
   During her first police interview, she tells police: “I’m depressed, I didn’t do anything. He wouldn’t let me do anything. I cared for him. He wouldn’t let me help him.”
   
   But when she is asked about the bones found in the bag and whether she has any link to it, she makes no comment.
   
   Photos of the bag and the cupboard where it was found are shown to her and she still makes no comment.
   
   A DNA sample is taken from her while she is in custody.
   
   She is then released and re-interviewed in January 2017.
   
   Denise Cranston - Jordan's grandmother - is also arrested and interviewed by police.
   
   During the interview, she tells officers 'no one' was responsible for Jordan's death.
   
   She says her grandson has decided to stop walking one day because 'something had gone in his leg' and refused to leave his chair.
   
   He refused to see a doctor, started eating less, regularly soiled himself and developed bed sores, she claims.
   
   Abigail Burling was arrested and questioned by police too.
   
   Abigail tells police she did not have a duty of care to her brother Jordan and no one was responsible for his death.
   
   She describes him as a 'typical 18-year-old guy' who was 'cheeky' and 'very independent'.
   
   She also claims he was a 'clean freak' who was 'fit as a fiddle' and said she saw him playing football the day before he died.
   
   
4. September 2016
   Sandra Burling - Jordan's aunt - gives a statement to police.
   
   She tells police that she saw her nephew shortly before Christmas in 2015 and he looked 'very ill' , and 'gaunt'.
   
   Sandra says she asked Jordan about his health and he said he was ill because he had eaten something that didn't agree with him.
   
   She also admits that Dawn had told her Jordan was depressed and after he turned 18 he refused to listen to anyone.
   
   
5. January 2017
   During her second police interview, Dawn is asked about Jordan’s medical problems, his missed medical appointments, her pregnancy with Jordan and previous pregnancies, her own childhood and who cared for her children.
   
   She makes no comment.
   
   The next day, she is interviewed again.
   
   She is asked whether the baby was alive when he was born, when that baby was born, what involvement Steven Burling (Jordan’s father) had in his son's life, why Jordan was taken out of school and why she hadn’t called the doctor for Jordan.
   
   She again makes no comment.
   
   During the trial, she is asked why she repeatedly responded with 'no comment' during police interviews.
   
   She told the court "I took the advice of the people around me.
   
   "At that point I thought it was the right thing. I didn’t feel I was ready to talk as much as I can now.’
   
   She later pleads guilty to endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child between January 1992 and June 2016, and is charged with manslaughter and an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
   
   Denise is then charged with manslaughter and an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
   
   
6. June 2017
   
   
   
   
   Dawn Cranston, 45, Denise Cranston, 70, and Abigail Burling, 25, appear at Leeds Crown Court to stand trial.
   
   They are accused of manslaughter and face an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
   
   
7. July 2017
   
   
   
   
   Dawn and Denise are convicted of his manslaughter by the jury at Leeds Crown Court.
   
   The pair show no emotion as they are told that they have been found guilty of manslaughter by unanimous verdict.
   
   Abigail is found not guilty of manslaughter, but found guilty of an alternative charge of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable person.
   

 

[Legally Bland]

He had not been to school since he was 12, the court heard. Teachers at his primary school remember him defecating on the floor and said he had head lice. He had not seen a dentist since 2009, when 16 of his teeth were treated, including four extractions.

“From the time Jordan was taken out of school, he became increasingly anonymous. Education and social services played little part in his life,” Lumley told jurors.

Relatives convicted over death of emaciated teenager

I could've sworn it was said J was taken out of school at 16.

He would have been about 11 when he last went to the dentist and needed all that treatment? I can understand that putting you off medical care, but there must have been a massive gap between dentist visits for that to happen. (If there were any visits at all?)

 

[Tortoise]

The teenager left to waste away

I totally accept others views and that I am in the minority. It's more of a gut feeling for me than anything else that this case solves nothing because of their mental health issues and it almost feels like they are being held up for ridicule. I don't in any way wish to stand in the way of others posting agreement with the verdict. I appreciate all opinions.

 

[jessie]

Thanks all for the updates. Must admit this was one of those trials I just couldn't bear to follow and my total incomprehension of how something like this could happen.
Very glad to hear the verdict at least. Hope the sentencing reflects the total lack of care from those closest to this poor boy, and the atrocious conditions they kept him in.

 

[KarenUK]

The teenager left to waste away

I totally accept others views and that I am in the minority. It's more of a gut feeling for me than anything else that this case solves nothing because of their mental health issues and it almost feels like they are being held up for ridicule. I don't in any way wish to stand in the way of others posting agreement with the verdict. I appreciate all opinions.

I'm on the fence here..... Yes they should have got him help, but manslaughter seems to harsh, but because there are some really obvious lies in their testimonies it's difficult to tell which bits are true. I dont think they were malicious, just misguided (for want of a better word), the three of them have the ability to rationalise some really irrational behaviour.

 

[jiminy]

What this case reminds me of (and absolutely no disrespect to Jordan is meant) is animal rescuers who take on too much and become hoarders/commit neglect. There's not a malicious intent to cause harm, far from it, but they don't ask for help or advice when it is blatantly obvious that suffering is occurring.

 

[Tortoise]

I think it's very complex and I may end up typing a post and then deleting it before I post it because it won't make sense. I think it's quite possible that while it was happening they thought they could manage it by themselves because that is what Jordan wanted. So they were ordering American food (whatever that means) buying him milkshakes, a walking frame, calpol, adult nappies, pads for the sores, etc. They knew there was a problem and they were caring for him in that way even though he needed expert care. Dawn (at least) we know dissociates. So in court and with hindsight she can now see that Jordan didn't get what he needed to recover but that doesn't mean that she knew it or realised it at the time. So her answers are going to either get her a conviction if she says yes, I accept he needed a doctor and I was neglectful, or she is going to have to tell a lie that he was eating enough etc. I also think she wanted to call a doctor. I can't judge her by my standards but by who she is as a person and her capabilities and coping mechanisms.

I think she had her head in the sand and looked after a son who was strong-willed until it was too late. I think calling the ambulance when she did was her wake up call to get help but it was too late. I think anyway. This quote from the article I linked above might explain why Denise didn't go against Dawn or Jordan to do anything:

"Dr Cleo Van Velsen, a consultant psychiatrist who assessed Dawn, told the trial the house was "sealed off" and the family had made a "psychic retreat into a cave" to protect themselves emotionally.

"You pay a price for that, for not connecting with the world; they reinforced each other's behaviour rather than challenged each other."

The teenager left to waste away

I can't understand why the jury felt Abigail wasn't as responsible as her mother and grandmother. She was there almost every day, and is a mother too. Why doesn't an adult sister have a duty of care in the same way. This makes me think that emotion may have played a part in the jury's decision? Meaning that they disliked Dawn and Denise.

 

[jiminy]

I think it's possibly because Abigail wasn't living there (though I have my doubts on that), changing his dressings etc so conceivably she only saw her brother sick on the airbed, not what was going on beneath.

 

[Aescwynn]

I am going to hold off on posting my opinion on the verdict until the sentences for Dawn and Denise are made public. I was reading that the UK has a kind of (Level 1, 2, 3 etc) severity system of prisons which offer certain services to inmates, is this correct? If so, those two could theoretically get some mental health care. But I could be completely wrong.

I may have to keep processing this one-- for a long, long time.

About Abigail: Tortoise might be right on the money about the jury, sad to say.

 

[Kasmeer]

I did think Abigail was less likely to be convicted, because a) it wasn't clear that she was at home enough to really understand how bad Jordan was, and b) while she might be adult in age, as the child/grandchild in the family dynamics, she'd expect her mother/grandmother to be taking responsbility for her brother.

I can't imagine such a situation in my own family, but certainly I couldn't see myself overruling my parents unless it seemed they had lost the mental capacity to do what was best; I'd usually trust their judgement to be right. And I'm both 10 years older than Abigail and truly left home 15 years ago, so have the distance and independence to see things more clearly. I also got the impression that she wasn't very clever (not intending this as an insult!), so might be even more likely to defer to those who've always been the adults in her life. Not everyone gets out of the "child" role in a family, and given the family as a whole seem to have mental/developmental difficulties running through it, I can completely understand how Abigail could be seen to hold less responsibility for her brother; it's certainly what I felt based on the reports I've seen.

 

[Julindy]

Such a sad case
R I P Jordan xx

 

[Julindy]

All three defendants are likely to be sentenced later this week.

Mother and grandmother guilty of manslaughter over teen 'left to rot' at Leeds house

 

[Tortoise]

4 T20177383
Abigail Burling
Dawn Cranston
Denise Cranston
Details: For Sentence - Prosecution Opening - 10:22

Leeds Crown Court Listings, hearings, cases & details