Overview
- An Old Bailey judge ordered North East London NHS Foundation Trust to pay a £565,000 fine plus £200,000 in costs for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.
- Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and 300 hours of unpaid work for failing to take reasonable care.
- Judge Richard Marks KC condemned the unaddressed risk from accessible plastic in communal toilets and noted the trust’s “absolutely parlous” finances when setting the fine.
- The Met’s inquiry found self-harm incidents were severely under-recorded and that staff failed to remove hazardous items or secure communal areas, enabling the circumstances of Alice Figueiredo’s death.
- The case stretched from a 2016 police investigation to CPS charges in 2023, with manslaughter acquittals in June 2025 and sentencing today, as the family and campaigners press for wider change and Aninakwa plans to appeal.