Daughter, 53, who left frail mother, 91, to die in home stacked with rubbish jailed for manslaughter

A daughter who left her frail OAP mum to die in a home stacked with rubbish has been jailed for manslaughter.

Therese Curphey, 53, watched 91-year-old Teresa die in hospital from sepsis, hypothermia and skin ulcers.

She waited until the last minute to call for an ambulance and when paramedics arrived they struggled to get into the cluttered upstairs bedroom where they found a distressed and emaciated Mrs Curphey.

Curphey Jnr, from Liverpool, was found guilty of unlawfully killing her mum last week and was sentenced to four years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court today.

DAUGHTER’S LIES

The defendant claimed her mother had fallen the night before and the only ailment that she described was a vitamin B12 deficiency, said the CPS.

The ambulance crew looked around the rest of the house and found bin bags full of household waste up to three feet high in most rooms.

Mrs Curphey was pronounced dead at hospital later the same evening.

TRAGIC DEATH

Following sentencing, Pascale Jones of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service said: “The circumstances of the death met by Teresa Curphey were tragic.

“Her daughter, over a period of months, had declined offers of help from neighbours, social services and claimed to be the sole carer for her mother.

She would have been in extreme pain from her injuries. The defendant failed to act and seek the assistance her mother needed. This was a dismal dereliction of her duty of care.

Pascale Jones, CPS

“She even decided to change her mother’s medication, in the belief she knew better than the doctor. She was the only person in the house to witness the deterioration of her mother’s health.

“The allegation that her mother had fallen on the bedroom floor the night before the paramedics were called was patently untrue.

“In fact Teresa Curphey has suffered a fall which caused three rib fractures at least one week before she was taken to hospital.

“She would have been in extreme pain from her injuries. The defendant failed to act and seek the assistance her mother needed. This was a dismal dereliction of her duty of care.”

Detective Inspector Phil Atkinson, of Merseyside Police, said: “This has been a really sad case and the conditions Mrs Curphey were left in were disgusting.

“It’s sad that a person of 91 was left in such conditions, that in her dying days she was deprived of her dignity.

“While today’s sentence cannot undo what has happened, I hope this result now gives the rest of Mrs Curphey’s family some sense of justice.”

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