Down’s Syndrome charity condemns nine year jail sentence for cruel Blackpool mum who starved disabled daughter to death

Clarke, 49, of Garden Terrace, South Shore, starved her daughter Debbie Leitch, 24, to death in a dark, filthy room covered in dirty nappies and takeaway boxes.

READ: 'Lazy and selfish' Blackpool mum starved disabled daughter to death in dark, faeces-covered room

Debbie, who had Down's Syndrome, weighed just 3st 10lbs when she was found dead at the family home on August 29, 2019. She was suffering from a serious scabies skin infection with a ‘severe rash to the scalp, the face and the soles of the feet’, to the extent that attending emergency service workers could not identify her as female. Live maggots were found next to her body.

Clarke pleaded guilty to her manslaughter, and was sentenced to nine years and seven months in prison at Preston Crown Court on February 24. She must serve at least two thirds of her sentence, meaning she could be released in just six years time.

Responding to the sentence, a spokesman for the Down’s Syndrome Association said: “We are deeply saddened by the needless and painful death of Debbie Leitch, and our thoughts are with her friends and family. To read the details of this vulnerable young lady’s final days due to her mother’s neglect is absolutely harrowing. Although we are pleased that justice will now be served as Elaine Clarke goes to prison, we feel that the sentence she was given does not reflect the horror of her crime.”

Blackpool Council’s adult social services were placed under investigation following the court case, as it was revealed that commissioned carers from Cherish UK visited the house on a daily basis, and often heard Debbie crying in her room. However, no attempt was ever made to check on her.

A DSA spokesman said: “We will also be monitoring what happens as the spotlight is shone on Blackpool Council’s social services team who are now be be subject to a formal safeguarding adults review. It is vital that new procedures are put in place so that that vulnerable people can be kept safe from such appalling neglect.”

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