Pensioner, 91, died after daughter left her lying in ‘filth’ for days

Teresa Curphey died in hospital from sepsis, hypothermia and skin ulcers.

A woman who left her 91-year-old mother lying in filth for days has been sentenced to four years in jail for gross negligence manslaughter.

Teresa Curphey died in hospital from sepsis, hypothermia and skin ulcers on February 20, 2017 as a result of severe pressure sores that her daughter failed to seek medical help for, said the Crown Prosecution Service.

Therese Curphey Jnr, 53, of Lydford Road, Liverpool, was found guilty last week by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court of unlawfully killing her mother.

She waited until the last minute to call for an ambulance and when paramedics arrived they struggled to get into the cluttered upstairs bedroom.

When they did, they found a distressed and emaciated Mrs Curphey.

Curphey 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.

Big Bang Theory's Mayim Bialik shares epic throwback for Johnny Galecki's birthday

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

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 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.

Drug dealer jailed after claiming taser was torch for pet lizard

‘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.’