Kaylea Titford: Bedroom was cluttered with 'food waste, flies and urine bottles', court hears

Warning: Graphic details of the scene of death some readers could find upsetting

A 16-year-old girl with spina bifida was living in a “disgusting” and cluttered room surrounded by flies when she died, a court has heard. 

Kaylea Titford’s morbidly obese body was discovered at her Newtown home on the morning of October 2020. 

At the time of her death she weighed nearly 23 stone and was bed-ridden.

Detective Constable Steve Williams from Dyfed Powys Police attended the scene and said the teenager's bedroom was "full of things you would not expect to see".

Giving evidence on Friday at Mold Crown Court he described “food waste, sweet wrappers, fizzy drink bottles….filth everywhere and bottles of urine around the bed”.

He added it was “very cluttered, there was a pool table in the room and on it were boxes and boxes of unused medical supplies.”

Her hoist to get her in and out of bed was dirty and looked unused. It was covered with “dust and cobwebs” he told the court. 

He said what struck him first was the “dark and dingy nature of the room”.

The blinds on the window were closed and there were fly papers hanging from the ceiling to trap insects.

On the day Kaylea died, there was also a birthday balloon and cake near her bed as she had recently turned 16.

DC Williams said he is used to attending scenes where there has been a sudden death but this was "different".

“There was a dank, musty, unclean stench in the air. I’m used to the smell of death…. I knew there was somebody dead inside but it was still a shock.”

When asked by the prosecution to describe the smell, he replied “rotting flesh”.

He added “Some live flies flew into my face as I rolled her forward.

"I know death…it didn’t compute with someone who’d died just hours earlier.”

Makeshift dressings had been made from puppy pads and they were all over her body.

The prosecution argue Kaylea had not seen any medical professionals for around nine months prior to her death. 

She died on October 10th 2020. 

A pathologist recorded Kaylea’s case of death as “inflammation and infection in extensive areas of ulceration arising from obesity and its complications, and immobility in a girl with spina bifida and hydrocephalus”.Her father Alun Titford, 45, is on trial for gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child. He denies the charges against him.

Kaylea’s mother Sarah Lloyd Jones previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of gross negligence.

The trial will reconvene on Monday.