Fine over blind man’s toilet cleaner death

Retired accountant Derek Johnson, 80, died after drinking the chemicals that had been left unattended in his room at Newfield Care Home in Cat Lane.

Mr Johnson, who was blind and had symptoms of dementia, had been there for just over a month before his death in July 2009.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted care home operator Palms Row Healthcare Ltd, on the grounds that they put vulnerable people at risk by failing to properly manage the use of cleaning fluids.

Yesterday the company, of Westbourne Road in Sheffield, was fined £15,000 at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court and also ordered to pay costs of £14,472.

Mr Johnson’s brother, Ray Johnson, said: “Derek was placed in a nursing home for his own safety and yet my very act of trying to keep him safe resulted in his death. I am still trying to come to terms with what I see as the untimely death of my big brother.”