Leeds mum, gran and sister condemned Jordan Burling to a '˜lingering death'

A judge who sentenced the three women told them they had condemned Jordan Burling to a 'lingering death'.

Mr Justice Spencer said the defendants has failed to take the “humane step” of calling for help for Jordan when he was as “quite literally at death’s door”.

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The judge said: “With proper medical care in hospital his life could undoubtedly have been saved.

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“Instead he was condemned to a lingering death, lying for three months on an airbed and mattress in the living room of the family home, emaciated, immobile and doubly incontinent.

“No one who has seen photographs of his emaciated body lying in the room where he died, or even more so the photographs taken at his post mortem, will ever be able to forget those images.

“They are too horrific to be published.

“They are hauntingly reminiscent of starving victims in the extermination camps of the Second World War.

West Yorkshire Police supplied photograph of Jordan Burling taken six weeks before his death.West Yorkshire Police supplied photograph of Jordan Burling taken six weeks before his death.
West Yorkshire Police supplied photograph of Jordan Burling taken six weeks before his death.
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“His pitiful state made a deep and lasting impression on experienced paramedics and police officers who attended the scene.”

During the trial, a nursing expert described how the ulcers on Jordan’s body were the worst she had seen in 30 years of practice.

They would have taken weeks, if not months, to develop.

The judge added: “Anyone could see that such horrible wounds required immediate medical attention in hospital.

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“Instead you attempted to treat those wounds yourselves, bathing them with salt water, applying nappy rash cream and covering them over with sanitary pads taped on to afford some supposed comfort.

“I cannot accept that Jordan never complained of being in pain, or showed particular signs of pain.

“Salt in the wounds and the movement of any affected limbs must have caused him excruciating pain.

“If it is true that he did not complain of pain it could only be because he was so weak and debilitated that he was unable to express it.”

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