The Misery Machine - The Case of Kaylea Louise Titford

Starting point is 00:00:00 Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavat Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Must be 21 to enter. You survived the Miami weekend.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Nailed the speech, and maxed out your credit card in the name of friendship. Now, you've got one hangover, four pastel dresses, and zero reasons to wear them again. Sell them on Deepop. Just snap a few photos, and we'll take care of the rest. And you at least get some of your dignity, money back. Someone on Deepop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Deepop, where taste recognizes taste. Is Jared off? right here.

Starting point is 00:01:05 Don't miss the return of Marvel television's daredevil born again. So what's next? I'm going to take this city back. New season, now streaming only on Disney Plus. They're hunting us. It's time we started hunting them. I can work with that. This should be tons of fun.

Starting point is 00:01:26 Marvel Television's Daredevil, Born Again, now streaming only on Disney Plus. I knew about investing, but I really didn't know how to go about it. Meet Corey, a wealthfront client. With Wealthfront, it could put money in, and it would automatically distribute it into a diversified portfolio. Then it starts to compound. The compounding compounds on the compounding. Just let it wrong, and it's great. Over 1 million clients trust Wealthfront.

Starting point is 00:01:47 Get started at Wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. Investment management and advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. Task performance does not guarantee future results. Content warning. This video is about a sensitive topic. evolving loss of life. We've removed any graphic content to comply with YouTube's guidelines.

Starting point is 00:02:08 We aim to provide informative, factual journalism on a tragic event in the public interest that is not dismiss its seriousness. All clips are used under the doctrine of fair use for news reporting and analysis. Kaylee Louise Titford was born on September 27, 2004 in Newtown, a small rural town in Wales. She was the daughter of parents Alan Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones. Alan made a living as a residential mover and was often away from the house for long stretches. One source claimed that he worked up to 50 hours a week and could be away for 15 days at a time. Sarah worked as a caregiver. In total, the couple had six children.

Starting point is 00:02:49 At the time of our story, Kaylee had recently celebrated her 16th birthday. Those that knew her described her as a quiet yet cheeky young woman who had her whole life ahead of her. According to her former basketball coach Steve Cox, she was a wonderful person and used to try card games, and she could cheat better than me in the end. She was quietly playful, board games like Jenga too. And there was pool. She'd cheat at pool too.

Starting point is 00:03:17 Kaylee was born with spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the spinal column doesn't completely form during pregnancy, leading to potential damage of the nerves and the spinal cord. There are three different types that vary in degrees of serious. and those are spina bifida occulta, meningocil, and myelominoinagicil, the most common and most severe form, which is what Kaylee had. It is a type of neural tube defect that occurs when the spinal cord and surrounding structures do not develop properly during early pregnancy. Part of the spinal cord, its protective coverings and spinal nerves protrude through an opening in the spine,

Starting point is 00:03:53 usually forming a fluid-filled sack on the baby's back. This defect most commonly occurs in the lower back. Children born with myelomino-menagosil often experience paralysis or weakness in the legs, as well as bladder and bowel control issues and may have hydrocephalists requiring a shunt to relieve pressure. This and hydrocephalus can sort of go hand in hand because the open spinal lesion disrupts the normal flow of cerebrospinal fluid, causing it to accumulate in the brain. Other complications of myelomino-menagicoseal spina bifida can include learning difficulties, orthopedic problems, and latex allergies. Treatment typically involves surgical repair of the spinal opening shortly after birth or, in some cases, fetal surgery during pregnancy.

Starting point is 00:04:36 Ongoing care includes physical therapy, urology, and neurology support, and educational assistance to help manage the long-term effects. Now, in regards to Kaylee's case specifically, she suffered mobility issues which caused her to be confined to a wheelchair. Her spina bifida also affected the nerves that controlled her bladder and bowels. Due to this, Kaylee had to use a catheter and relied on a caretaker for her personal care. Her mother, Sarah, took on this role as her daughter's full-time caretaker. However, Kaylee didn't let her disabilities get in the way. She attended Newtown High School just like any other girl her age and was fiercely bright and independent. Although she had a support worker to help her with things that she was incapable of doing herself,

Starting point is 00:05:21 Kaylee wanted to be as self-sufficient as humanly possible. According to her support worker Belinda Jones, she wouldn't let anyone else push her in her wheelchair. Kaley's teaching a... Introducing Taco Bell's new jalapeno citrus salsa with bright citrus, real red jalapinos, guahillo chileas. Usually, you add sauce to the food, but when the sauce is this good, the food is just there to get the sauce to your mouth. That rolled cassidia, not a rolled cassidia anymore. Now it's a sauce shovel. Taco Bell's jalapeno citrus salsa, get it with any item.

Starting point is 00:05:54 on the canteen a chicken menu while it's here. The participating U.S. Taco Bell locations for a limited time only, while supplies last. Contact store for availability. Assistant Madeline Ottawa mirrored Belinda's sentiments, noting that the teenager was fiercely independent and on occasion stubborn. She didn't like asking for help. Although Kaylee was sometimes the victim of bullying, she genuinely enjoyed going to school.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Kaylee also showed impressive potential in the basketball court and aspired to one day play wheelchair basketball basketball. in the Paralympics. Bat Kaylee was assigned to the Disability Sport Wales Pathways program, which scouts potential Paralympian talent. Her coach, Steve Cox, would later tell reporters with the BBC that I'd take a shot, I'd turn my back, and when I look around, there'd be a couple of balls missing, and she'd give me the sly grin.

Starting point is 00:06:43 She was very pleasant, a joy to work with. From the ages of 10 to 12, Kaylee attended training sessions with Coach Cox, who felt that she was a possible star of the future, stating that she took to wheelchair basketball like a duck to water. He described her as friendly and sociable and recounted a time when she took great pleasure in teaching him how to use his cell phone. Apparently, Kaylee would poke fun at him for his lack of technical skills and treated him like a caveman. After leaving the sport, Kaylee and Coach Cox would cross paths again two years later at a local

Starting point is 00:07:16 youth club he was involved in. Coach Cox recounted that by now, Kaylee wasn't the same girl that he remembered from the basketball court. Noted that. By then, she was a little bit quieter and withdrawn compared to the girl I was used to, who would take great pleasure in putting me down and having fun. I remember the cheeky smile, the wind-up part of Kaylee, as well as her determination and inner strength. According to her support worker Belinda Jones, as she got older, her attitude to sport changed, and she wasn't as enthusiastic as before. I feel it was because of her weight.

Starting point is 00:07:49 She was getting bigger for her wheelchair, and she used her hands to push the wheels on her wheelchair. to get around. Her legs were very tight. Things were changing for Kaylee at home and not for the better. In 2017, she was discharged from her physiotherapy appointments. Now, this is a big problem because physiotherapy plays a crucial role in managing spina bifida. It helps improve movement, independence, and overall quality of life. She was also discharged from her dietitian services simply because her mother, Sarah, failed to make a new appointment for her. This was also a major problem because being with a dietitian can be crucial for those with spina bifida as they can have unique dietary requirements related to bowel and bladder function, bone health, and weight management.

Starting point is 00:08:33 As Kaylee was wheelchair bound and had issues with bowel and bladder function, losing access to these types of services was a big deal. Soon the teenager who had dreams of becoming a Paralympian began to put on a lot of weight. Just 16 years old and 4 foot 8 inches tall, Kaylee weighed 3,000, According to Pulphus at all in a paper published in 2017 called Obesity Prevention for Individuals with Spina Bifida, and I quote, carrying excess weight exacerbates the inherent health challenges associated with spina bifida, impedes the individual's ability to self-manage their condition, and creates further challenges for family members and caregivers. For Kay Lee, obesity was an issue that her medical professionals took seriously because the effects on her health were tenfold given that she had spina bifida. There's an excellent paper published in 2024 from the Spina Bifida Association that will link in the show notes called Obesity Among Persons with Spina Bifida. But the paper didn't mince words about how dangerous obesity could be for someone with Spina Bifida saying, and I quote,

Starting point is 00:09:36 obesity causes greater health problems for people who have spina bifida. Obesity further limits mobility and the ability to manage activities of daily living. This leads to a spiraling problem of decreased energy use and weight gain, making it harder to keep up in social and work situations. Obesity puts more pressure on skin, thereby increasing the already high risk of skin breakdown, particularly in areas that hold moisture. Remember, Kaylee was in a wheelchair and was more at risk for ulcers. They go on to say, with increasing weight, pressure is placed on areas of the buttocks, legs, and back that may promote skin breakdown.

Starting point is 00:10:13 Although Kaylee had always been classified as slightly overweight since she was a small child, these services were giving her the ability to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. She soon was being fed a diet that consisted primarily of fast food and sugary treats, which was in direct opposition to what her dietitian recommended. In fact, it's been reported that rather than cook healthy homemade meals, the Titford family would get Chinese takeout four to five times a week. And I know some people might say that it's their right as parents to feed their child what they want, or maybe someone might think that the parents just simply didn't know any better on what to feed Kaylee.

Starting point is 00:10:48 But the fact of the matter is that the family had been working with social children, social services and medical professionals since Kaylee was born. She was now a teenager. Social services still classified Kaylee as a child in need. Her parents knew very well the seriousness of spina bifida. They knew that Kaylee needed a special diet and they were educated on what her needs were. This wasn't a case of them getting kicked off of services or not being able to afford it. Based on our research, this appeared to be a government-funded program that they had full access to.

Starting point is 00:11:21 just for whatever reason, they chose not to do what was right for her. And if you've watched this channel for a long time, you might have heard me mention that I'm a medical coder. And as a coder, when you have an entire medical history in front of you of a person that is dependent on someone else to properly take care of their medical needs, and you see physicians documenting noncompliance of a treatment plan, meaning that the caregiver isn't doing everything they could for them, it is just so inferior. And see something, say something, right? Well, people can and do, but proving medical neglect isn't exactly an easy task, especially if nobody has died. The wording can vary state to state, and I'm not a lawyer, but from my layman's understanding, it largely centers around proving omission of care to a patient resulting in harm or the failure to adequately provide medical care. So then the argument comes down to

Starting point is 00:12:20 what qualifies as adequate medical care, or what qualifies as a mission of care, or what qualifies as harm from medical neglect, apart from the typical effects of the disorder that the person is naturally suffering from. Dr. John Sterling in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma wrote an article called Understanding Medical Neglect, when needed care is delayed or refused. We'll have it linked down below, but in it, he says, though the most common form of child maltreatment, Gleck can prove among the hardest to diagnose an intervention is equally difficult. Now, keep in mind, this is difficult to prove in a setting of medical professionals who are providing and supervising care. In Kaylee's case, she was being cut off from those medical

Starting point is 00:13:08 professionals. Sadly, she was about to get much more isolated from those who could help her. The year was 20-20, and with it came the lockdowns related to the pandemic. Kaylee was no longer attending classes at Newtown High School in person and was essentially shut out from the outside world. Now, as you'll recall from many of the cases we've covered post-pandemic, there was a huge upticking cases of CA due to challenges in detection and reporting. Stay-at-home orders and lockdowns meant children were confined to homes, sometimes with family members that didn't have their best interests at heart.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Remote learning meant that teachers and other mandated reporters weren't there to report bruises or other signs of violence within the home. Even social workers who were supposed to be making home visits were turned away due to pandemic-related concerns, as we saw in the case of Little Findlay-Bodin of Derbyshire. Other factors such as economic stress, substance use, and mental health issues exacerbated issues within homes, sometimes in homes that wouldn't otherwise have these type of issues.

Starting point is 00:14:18 This created a hidden pandemic where incidents of CA were increasing, but going completely undetected. Sadly, Kaylee would soon fall victim to the perfect storm that the pandemic created. Between March and October of 2020, Kaylee was restricted to her bed and completely reliant on her parents for help. During this time, the teenager was abandoned in her bedroom where she was forced to relieve herself in her bed and would go for months without bathing. Sarah had completely stopped caring for her. Kaylee had not seen a medical professional in roughly nine months. In March and September of 2020, Newtown High School had completely shut down. After Kaylee hadn't returned for fall classes, school administrators grew concerned. Rather than ask for help, Sarah always had an excuse,

Starting point is 00:15:07 such as Kaylee allegedly falling out of her wheelchair and hurting herself. Things came to a head on the evening of October 9th, 2020. That night, Kaylee reportedly kept begging for her parents to help her. We'd be told via text message at 10.30 p.m. to stop screaming because according to her father, she had a bad chest due to a cold. This would be the last communication that either parent had with their teenage daughter, because at 8 a.m. the following morning, Sarah found Kaylee unresponsive. Alan made the following 999 call. Okay, so just confirm this is breathing. No.

Starting point is 00:15:46 I know you're able to wake her. Can you? Oh. Oh. I need you to get her onto the floor there. Can you lay a slap on her back on the floor and the move on the floor? No, she's too big. She's your spine.

Starting point is 00:15:57 She's overweight. If there is somebody there that can help you? Do we never get it back up? Honestly, she's... That's fine. We need to help her there now, okay. Don't worry about getting her back up there. Sorry. onto the floor. When first responders found Kaylee 10 minutes later, she was described as sitting upright

Starting point is 00:16:14 in her filthy bed with her head slump forward. Rigormortus had already set in. Her hair was matted and her skin had visible ulcers. Rather than assisting their daughter with her hygiene needs, puppy training paths were placed around her body. All of them were filthy. The previously, fiercely independent 16-year-old girl who had hopes of one day becoming a Paralympic athlete is now reduced to this. Kaylee had succumbed in what police referred to as a dumping ground rather than the bedroom of a teenage girl. The room was filled with empty McDonald's cups, soda bottles, and an uneaten birthday cake.

Starting point is 00:16:55 Among the piles of garbage and spoiled food, there were items that simply didn't belong like a pressure washer, a broken refrigerator, and a deep fat friar, complete with grease pouring down the sides. Human waste covered the floors of Kaylee's onsuit bathroom, and milk jugs and fruit juice cartons filled with urine surrounded the teenager's bed. According to police constable Liam Donovan, who responded to the scene, the smell was worse than anything he'd encountered before. And then, there were the bugs. The hoist that was positioned over Kaylee's bed was covered in cobwebs and fly feces, and two strips of fly paper hung from the ceiling. Investigators counted 110 insects trapped in the glue.

Starting point is 00:17:40 When Kaylee's body was finally moved, maggots wriggled out from under her. It's very likely that the teenager was being eaten alive and had been for some time. And while we're on the topic of the bed, Kaylee was forced to sleep on a thin blue plastic mattress covered in a filthy sheet that was so stained with body fluids that I'm not even sure what the color really was. Kaylee's parents never joined the police in the squalid bedroom. In fact, it was one of her siblings that led the authorities to her body. Her mother, Sarah, remained upstairs while her father, Alan, sat at the bottom of the

Starting point is 00:18:15 stairs, smoking a cigarette as if it was going to be his last. At autopsy, it was found that Kaylee died as the result of, and I quote, inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and its complications and immobility in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. In the end, and 45-year-old Alan and 39-year-old Sarah were eventually arrested in charge with manslaughter by gross negligence. However, on December 12th of 2022, just a month before her case was headed to trial, Sarah pled guilty. All right, everyone. Welcome to Arco Rewards Orientation. I'm Hannah. Whoa. Is everything okay? That's a code green. Someone just earned at least five cents a gallon

Starting point is 00:18:57 in rewards. Wow. Another one? Well, that one's a code gold. The customer just redeemed savings of up to a dollar a gallon. Impressive. What does that one mean? Oh, that's just piggy. He gets excited when we talk about rewards. Savings of up to $1 per gallon redeemable with $20 rewards dollars in your loyalty account. At participating locations, terms and conditions apply. However, Alan continued to insist that he was innocent, claiming that he just didn't feel comfortable caring for his disabled daughter after she entered puberty.

Starting point is 00:19:26 Despite being confined to her bed for the better part of eight months, Alan claimed that he hadn't noticed anything wrong with Kaylee. The last time he saw his daughter was on her 16th birthday, which was just under two weeks before she ultimately died. Alan claimed that he gave Kaylee a hug and kiss, but if he had even bothered to pull back her covers, you would have noticed that her toenails hadn't been cut in at least six to ten months. He would have noticed that her legs and feet were covered in bed sores,

Starting point is 00:19:56 fact, a podiatrist that examined post-mortem photos of Cayley's body testified that they were the worst that he had seen in his 30 years of practicing. Allen's lawyer, David Elias, asked the jury to divorce themselves from the graphic imagery being shown in court claiming. The horror at the end of the case is not the benchmark necessarily for guilt or innocence. It is revolting. It is horrific. There is no dispute about it, but you have to look at how it got to that point.

Starting point is 00:20:25 He then shifted the blame to social service workers and Kaylee's mother, Sarah, adding, here is a defendant who was working throughout, who we say quite rightly because he was entitled to because of everything that she had done so well, truly believed until the day Kaylee was found that Sarah Lloyd-Jones was doing the right thing and giving the right treatment and didn't know that she wasn't. Under cross-examination, Alan blamed his inability to care for his daughter on his own laziness. He admitted that he wasn't a good father and that he'd get lazy and tired after working his long shifts as a mover. Alan claimed that after his shifts, he'd go home and do nothing but watch television in his bedroom. All of Kaylee's needs, as well as the household needs, fell on to Sarah,

Starting point is 00:21:11 who was also working as a caregiver outside of the home. Alan wouldn't even open the mail. But in the end, no one was taking care of Kaylee, and neither parent could even be bothered to seek outside help for their disabled daughter. They were perfectly content with hiding her away in her prison of filth, allowing her to die without a shred of dignity. Kaylee's case was somewhat historic in the UK's court system because it was the first time that a manslaughter charge had been issued due to childhood obesity. Matters of parents not managing their child's weight correctly were normally settled

Starting point is 00:21:44 in family court. However, there were obviously many layers in Kaylee's case that warranted the charge, not just the fact that she had passed away from neglect. Among the failures that the court listed were ensuring that Kaylee did not stay immobile for periods detrimental to her health and well-being, ensuring that she was living in a safe and hygienic environment, ensuring that her person was maintained to a hygienic physical standard, ensuring that her physical health needs were met, and finally, ensuring that needed medical assistance was sought.

Starting point is 00:22:16 Based on the result of Kaylee's autopsy and the state of the bedroom that ultimately became her grave, It was quite apparent that Alan and Sarah had caused her death by shocking and prolonged neglect. On March 7, 2023, the couple appeared before Judge Martin Griffiths at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing. It was the first time that cameras were allowed in Welsh court after a law pass that allowed proceedings to be recorded. According to the judge, both Alan and Sarah were both equally responsible and were both equally culpable. Alan Titford stand up. For the gross negligence manslaughter of Cayley Titford, I sentence you to seven years, six months imprisonment. You will serve two-thirds of the sentence, namely five years in custody before you are released on license. When you are released, you will be on license until the end of this sentence. You must comply with the terms of the license and commit no further offence or else you will be liable to serve a further period in custody. You may go down. For the gross negligence manslaughter of Cayley Tickford, having regard to your guilty plea, I sentence you to six years imprisonment. You will serve two-thirds of the sentence, namely four years in custody before you are released on licence. When you are released, you will be on licence until the end of your sentence. You must comply with the terms of the licence and commit no further offence, or else you will be liable to serve a further period in custody. make it done. However, there were some folks that disagreed with the judge's sentencing,

Starting point is 00:24:00 finding the terms to be a bit too lenient. Because of this, the Solicitor General referred the conviction to the Court of Appeals under the unduly lenient sentences scheme for review. Now, if you recall from our coverage of Sarah Sharif's story, her father's case was also referred to the same agency and was eventually upgraded. After a hearing on May 19, 23, Allen and Sarah face the same fate. Kings counsel William Emlyn Jones, who was representing the Attorney General's office, told the court, by virtue of the combination of the duration of the neglect, the nature of the victim's prolonged suffering, the extent of the victim's vulnerability and absolute dependence on her parents for care,

Starting point is 00:24:44 and ultimately the appalling conditions in which she was left to live and ultimately die, this is an offense which falls into the definition of her. extreme. I think both of us would be inclined to agree. Now, Alan's sentence was increased to 10 years in prison and Sarah's was increased to 8. According to Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson, this was a deeply distressing and upsetting case, and my thoughts today are with all of those who loved Kaylee. Kaylee was subjected to horrific neglect by her parents and the court's decision to extend Alan Titford and Sarah Lloyd-Jones' sentences sends a clear message that her. child abuse will never be tolerated.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Kaylea Louise Titford

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.