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

[Legally Bland]

12:27
Jordan 'had not been ill for months', Dawn tells court
Mr Lumley moved on to ask about another text message Stephen sent Dawn shortly after he asked about his health.
Mr Lumley said part of the message reads: “You should take Jordan to the doctors or get one to your mum’s”.

It also says that Jordan has been unwell ‘for months’.
The barrister said that Stephen is clearly ‘urging you’ to get a doctor and then asked why he sent that.
Dawn said:

“I don’t know because at that time he had got over being poorly, just before he got a bout of diarrhoea before Christmas.”

Mr Lumley then asked whether Stephen was right to say that Jordan had been ill for months.
She said no he hadn’t.
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Tortoise]

Yet the medics could find no medical reason for his weight loss. So what would the doctor have done? More than likely looked into an eating disorder IMO.

 

[Legally Bland]

13:37
Jordan 'up and about' in November 2015
Mr Lumley asked about another message Stephen sent Dawn in November 2015.
In it he asked whether she had taken Jordan to hospital yet.
She said she doesn’t remember that text and she ‘wasn’t getting on with Stephen at that point’.
Mr Lumley asked her whether Jordan was starting to change physically at that point.
“He was still up and about, still doing his own stuff,” she said.
She also admitted that his weight had ‘gone down a little bit’ but he gained some weight over Christmas.
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

13:38
Dawn Cranston admits to lying about Jordan and doctors
Mr Lumley asked her about more messages she sent, including one she sent to a friend which said that Jordan ‘wants to go to the doctors with him’.
But she admitted that was a lie and said Jordan was ‘ok at that point’. She claimed to have sent it to get out of prearranged plans.
‘So that was a complete lie, sent to your friend who you had no reason to lie to?’ asked Mr Lumley.
Dawn agreed that she had lied.
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

13:40
Jordan was still 'eating and going out'
Mr Lumley went on to ask about Jordan’s weight.
He asked her if she could explain how Jordan lost all that weight.
“No, because I was still buying stuff and he was still eating,” she said.
She said she regularly bought food from ASDA and Sainsbury’s and was making him meals when he asked.
But Mr Lumley said Jordan’s weight had been dropping significantly since October and his condition was only going ‘one way’.

She replied:

“He was still eating. He was still up and about and was still going out.”

“He was telling me he were ok, he were fine.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

13:42
Dawn went to doctors for treatment a few months before Jordan died
Mr Lumley then revealed that Dawn had gone to the doctors for treatment a few months before Jordan died.
‘What did you say to the doctor about your son?’ asked Mr Lumley.
She replied: “I can’t remember.”
She also told the court that Jordan did not want to go to the doctors.
Mr Lumley continued to question her about her son’s deteriorating condition and asked her whether she thought it time to call a doctor when he stopped walking and started defecating himself.
“He wouldn’t let me get a doctor,” she said.
‘Did any of you say to him you must get a doctor?’ asked the barrister.
She said:

“Yeah. I would constantly. But he didn’t want a doctor after what happened last time.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Tortoise]

This is sounding untruthful. That probably won't endear the jury.

 

[Legally Bland]

13:44
Dawn worried Jordan would become abusive if she called doctor
Dawn was asked whether he remained in the chair because he couldn’t walk or wouldn’t walk.
He said admitted that he ‘wouldn’t get up’ and was very stubborn about it.
She was then asked if she thought her son was a hypochondriac.
‘No,’ she said.
She then told the court that she didn’t want to call a doctor or paramedics because she was worried that he might become physically abusive.

“I didn’t want him to hit anybody because he had already hit my mum a few times.”

Mr Lumley pointed out that the ‘bigger picture’ was that she could have saved his life.

She said:

“I didn’t want him to die.”


Mr Lumley asked if Jordan had ever hit a doctor.
She said:

“Not that I know of but he were awkward at the dentist and stuff like that.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

13:44
Dawn and Denise discussed Jordan 'everyday'
Mr Lumley then said that during a recent interview with a psychologist, Dawn had said her mother had told her not to call a doctor.
Dawn admitted that she ‘might have’ said that but went on to say:

‘She wouldn’t have told me not to get help. We used to talk about it everyday.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

14:00
'I was trying to make him better'
Mr Lumley asked Dawn to look at a photograph she took of Jordan in April, shortly before he died.
He asked her whether she could see that things looked ‘very serious’?
She said:

“That’s why I took to trying to care for him. I was trying to make him better.”

‘You’ve never seen anything like this in your life before,’ said Mr Lumley.
Dawn shook her head.
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

14:01
Jordan 'didn't want a doctor'
The barrister asked her what stopped her from calling a doctor.

Dawn said:

“He didn’t want one. I were trying to care for him.”

She went on to say: “I was trying to make him better.”
Mr Lumley also asked her if she thought Jordan was having problems with his mental health.

“No, because we used to have conversations when I came home of a night.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

14:03
Pressure sores 'seemed to grow bigger overnight'
Mr Lumley proceeded to ask Dawn about Jordan’s pressure ulcers.
Dawn said she can’t remember how she first found them but they ‘seemed to grow bigger overnight’.
She told the court that she would lay her teenage son on his back and clean his front and sides, while her mother would clean his back.
When asked about a large sore on his back, she said she had never seen it because she didn’t clean his back, even though her mother mentioned it.


“She said there was a sore. I never ever saw it so I’ve no idea how big it was.”

She added: “I was concentrating on other ones.”
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

14:07
Dawn 'started to see bones' when cleaning Jordan
“Are you making this up as you go along?” asked Mr Lumley.
“No this is the honest truth,” said Dawn, “I never saw it.”
She then admitted that she ‘started to see bones’ through some of the sores while cleaning her son.
“That was the time, wasn’t, it to dial 999?” said Mr Lumley.
“I took it upon myself to try and help him. I didn’t want him to die,” she replied.
Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Tortoise]

Was there a point at which she thought she would be in trouble for not summoning a doctor? I know she did eventually but I wonder if it ever crossed their minds to not even call an ambulance on the day he was dying. But then they worked out they could never get away with hiding his body. I don't know..

 

[Legally Bland]

This is sounding untruthful. That probably won't endear the jury.

It does and I think it's getting worse since you posted this.

How do you know what to believe.

I found the text about Jordan wanting to see a doctor with 'him' strange. Did he want to go with a male friend of his Mum's or is it a typo?

Either way, it was supposedly a lie, so I don't know if it matters.

 

[Kasmeer]

It does and I think it's getting worse since you posted this.

How do you know what to believe.

I found the text about Jordan wanting to see a doctor with 'him' strange. Did he want to go with a male friend of his Mum's or is it a typo?

Either way, it was supposedly a lie, so does I don't know if it matters.

I read that as Jordan wanted her to see a doctor with him, so possibly poor wording in the report, at least that was the only way I could make sense out of it! I'm finding her responsives too evasive now, she "might have" said something, whenever that something is inconvenient, and defaulting to she "didn't want him to die" when questions get too hard to answer. That said, I'd be no better if I was being cross-examined, but then I'd have a believeable (and true!) story in the first place. Really not sure how much of this can be taken as truth here.

 

[Tortoise]

I really want the truth from her. It's so hard to believe she was indifferent to him dying, I want to believe that his death wasn't even on her radar. Did she believe he could turn a corner and she really blocked out or stopped 'seeing' the deterioration?

 

[Tortoise]

I read that as Jordan wanted her to see a doctor with him, so possibly poor wording in the report, at least that was the only way I could make sense out of it! I'm finding her responsives too evasive now, she "might have" said something, whenever that something is inconvenient, and defaulting to she "didn't want him to die" when questions get too hard to answer. That said, I'd be no better if I was being cross-examined, but then I'd have a believeable (and true!) story in the first place. Really not sure how much of this can be taken as truth here.

That does make more sense about the reporter missing out 'her'.

 

[Legally Bland]

I read that as Jordan wanted her to see a doctor with him, so possibly poor wording in the report, at least that was the only way I could make sense out of it! I'm finding her responsives too evasive now, she "might have" said something, whenever that something is inconvenient, and defaulting to she "didn't want him to die" when questions get too hard to answer. That said, I'd be no better if I was being cross-examined, but then I'd have a believeable (and true!) story in the first place. Really not sure how much of this can be taken as truth here.

I think you're probably right about the text.

 

[SugarQueen]

So every time she had mentioned Jordan being ill to someone is now supposed to be a time that she was lying?
Everyone is now supposed to believe he was never ill at those points? Wow.