Veronica Irwin died hours after being rushed to hospital after paramedics found the 72-year-old woman on a bathroom floor – where she had been for two weeks
A man left his mother to die in her bathroom after leaving her on the tiled floor for two weeks, a jury has heard.
Veronica Irwin, 72, died a “painful and inhumane” death after she was allegedly left in a “perilous state” at her home in Carlisle, Cumbria. A court heard Stewart Irwin, 56, eventually called emergency services to say the woman, who was supposedly in his care, had refused to get up following a fall.
It is alleged Irwin, who denies manslaughter, told the call handler his mother was “one of those stubborn women” before paramedics discovered her naked from the waist up at the property in July 2023. They initially feared the pensioner was already dead on their arrival and said they found maggots crawling on her skin.
Jurors at Carlisle Crown Court were told that a post-mortem examination found she died from hypothermia and sepsis caused by pressure ulcers having spent a “considerable amount of time” laid on the floor.
He “must have been stepping over” his mother for the she was laid on the bathroom floor, prosecutors said. The court heard that he also withdrew money from her bank account and was “regularly” seen on CCTV at a local store buying alcohol.
Prosecutor Phillip Barnes KC said the defendant had made no attempt to seek medical help for his stricken mother.
“He continued to go about his life in a normal way while his mother was lying in a desperate state,” Mr Barnes said in court.
“At no time did he mention it or seek help. No reasonable carer would have stood idly by.”
The trial continues.
