Care home manager fined after two wheelchair users, including father-of-four, drowned on day trip when boat capsized
A judge described the case as "devastating" and said standards at the care home had "slipped" in the lead-up to the incident
A care home manager has been fined £4,000 after two wheelchair users drowned when their boat capsized on a lake at an activity centre.
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Father-of-four and former rugby player Alexander Wood, 43, and Alison Tilsley, 63, died when the wheelyboat they were in overturned at the Roadford Lake Activity Centre in Devon in June 2022.
Manager of the care home Janice Sowden admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment that resulted in avoidable harm to Mr Wood, Ms Tilsley and Kate Dart, who also suffered serious injury in the incident.
Sowden, as the registered manager, was responsible for health and safety.
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Exeter Magistrates’ Court heard she failed to assess the risks of the outing, which involved taking six people all of whom were wheelchair users, from Burdon Grange Care Home to the activity centre.
James Marsland, prosecuting, said: "A wheelyboat, ie, a boat designed to carry wheelchair users, had been hired from the centre for a trip on the lake.
"Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, in particular, were strapped into electric wheelchairs without any means of being released from them."
Mr Marsland said the vessel started to take on water within a matter of minutes causing it to capsize.
He told the court that Mr Wood and Ms Tilsley were "drowned by the weight of their wheelchairs" as they pulled them under the water.
He added: "Ms Sowden did not undertake any risk assessment in relation to the needs of the service users. Nor did she ensure that any such risk assessment did take place.
"This is a classic case of serious negligence."
Mr Wood, a father of four, moved to the care home after he was injured in a rugby accident in France in 2011.
Sowden, of Beaworthy, Devon, had been appointed registered manager at the home in 2016 and was described as having previously been "caring" and "diligent" in her work.
However, the court heard a "cultural complacency" developed in the home in the run-up to the incident and standards had slipped.
Judge Stuart Smith said that insufficient consideration was also given to the capabilities of staff members, one of whom could not swim, and described Sowden as "blase" about risk.
The court heard Sowden went on to attempt to fabricate evidence of health and safety considerations following the incident, creating a fake checklist for the boat trip to "deceive" investigators.
On Tuesday, Sowden was fined £4,000.
Judge Smith told her: "This case is nothing short of devastating.
"The lives of two much-loved residents, Alexander Wood and Alison Tilsley, have been lost.
"This was in no small part a direct consequence of your cavalier attitude to good health and safety practice. This incident has caused immeasurable grief to the families of Alex and Alison."