Overview
- Prosecution opened the case at Carlisle Crown Court that Stewart Irwin is accused of gross negligence manslaughter over the death of his mother Veronica, who died hours after paramedics were called on July 28, 2023.
- Paramedics and hospital doctors told jurors they found Veronica unconscious, emaciated and hypothermic with extensive infected pressure ulcers and that a pathologist gave sepsis and hypothermia as the cause of death.
- A consultant geriatrician told the court the injuries were consistent with the woman having lain on the bathroom floor for at least ten days and the 16-minute 999 call played to the jury included the son saying she had fallen and had been there for two weeks.
- Evidence includes the defendant’s own statements that he was his mother’s carer and that she refused help, custody healthcare notes recording he described himself as alcohol dependent, and a psychologist’s assessment that he did not lack decision-making capacity.
- The jury must decide whether those omissions were so serious they amounted to criminal gross negligence and the trial will probe questions about family care, the defendant’s conduct, and what support was available to both people involved.