49-Year-Old Mom Gets Nine Years For Starving Disabled Daughter To Death

A 49-year-old woman has been sentenced to nine years and seven months in prison after admitting gross negligent manslaughter at Preston Town Court.

She was identified as Elaine Clarke, who pocketed £215 a week while starving her 24-year-old daughter, Debbie Leitch who had Down Syndrome.

Clarke reportedly holed Leitch in a filthy room covered with takeaway boxes and used nappies. The feces-covered room had a foul odor, one that reportedly smelled of death.

Debbie was found dead in the room, severely underweight in August 2019. The 24-year-old was reportedly suffering from a severe skin condition called Norwegian scabies. This had spread across her body that police were unable to identify her sex when they found the 24-year-old’s body.

"Debbie was extremely emaciated with a severe rash to the scalp, the face and the soles of the feet,” according to a prosecutor, John Harrison QC. "The jumper and trousers worn by the deceased were filthy and mites were found crawling on them. A urine-soiled nappy was found inside her trousers.”

Then responders were trying to cut away clothes from Debbie, bits of skin also came away with it. Mites were crawling all over her back and her trousers were covered with liquid feces.

"Debbie's hair was falling out due to the scabies rash. Debbie's ribs were visible through the skin,” Harrison stated.

It appears that even before the discovery, the niece of Clarke already found Debbie lying on a filthy mattress in a foul-smelling room. She warned Elaine that Debbie would die if she was not looked after properly and reported her to social services.

It was only when a GP scheduled a home visit did Clarke made efforts to clean the room and her daughter.

Clarke reassured the doctor that she was treating Debbie's skin condition, but on subsequent requests for a visit, the GP was met with no answer.