Church fined £40k for man’s death in care home plunge

The Catholic Church was fined £40,000 yesterday after it admitted criminal responsibility for the death of a pensioner in one of its care homes.

The Diocese of Dunkeld Ltd was given four years to pay the fine imposed after it admitted it was to blame for the fatal 30ft fall of 94-year-old resident Peter Connor.

Mr Connor fell on to a concrete path and died after climbing out of a second floor window a fortnight after moving into the church-run care home.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: “T he offender has pled guilty to a very serious breach of its legal duty by failing to take adequate precautions to make windows safe at the Wellburn Care Home.

“The defender had failed to ensure that windows were fitted with devices to restrict the amount by which they could be opened so that they didn’t endanger the health and safety of people at the building.

“Tragically, this breach of the legal duty contributed to the death of Pe ter Connor.

“Mr Connor’s exposure to this avoidable risk proved to be fatal. The provision of adequate safeguards against falling from windows was a basic requirement.”

Sheriff Carmichael ruled that the church was to blame for the highest category of harm likelihood.

He said that because the church had set up the organisation as a limited company and registered charity, the level of fine he could impose would be restricted, reducing his headline fine from £100,000 to £60,000. It was then reduced by onethird for an early guilty plea to £40,000.

Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Mr Connor, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, had a boxedoff water pipe under the window which acted as a platform for him to climb up and fall out to his death.

It heard that two-hourly checks had been carried out on Mr Connor but his 6am check had been missed because the nurse was busy dealing with another resident.

The trust admitted health and safety failings between July 31 2015 and June 2 2017 which exposed residents to risk and led to the death of Peter Connor, 94, on May 30 2017.

The court was told that the care home was closed completely less than 10 days after Mr Connor’s death, with all residents rehoused elsewhere.

Peter Gray QC, for the church, said: “It is a matter of most profound regret and remorse in equal measure that he lost his life as a result of failings for which the Diocese is responsible.”

Members of Mr Connor’s family, who have settled a six-figure claim with the church, declined to comment.