Pathologist gives evidence in Dorothy Morgan manslaughter trial

Dorothy Morgan, 71, weighed four and a half stone and had pressure sores over much of her body when she was admitted to Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital in January of 2021, a jury at Carlisle Crown Court has heard.

Her husband Robert Christopher Morgan, 60, and Mrs Morgan’s son by another man, 52-year-old David Alan Holyoak, both deny manslaughter.

The prosecution case is that Mrs Morgan, said to have been living on a downstairs sofa at the Calder Avenue home in Whitehaven she shared with the two defendants, was “killed through their negligence”.

They refute this, saying they did not seek medical help sooner because they were respecting Mrs Morgan's wishes.

On the third day of the trial at Carlisle Crown Court, the jury heard evidence from Home Office Pathologist Dr Alison Armour, who carried out a post-mortem on Mrs Morgan.

Despite the hospital treatment she received, Mrs Morgan had remained "very poorly", suffering from sepsis, such that the doctors treating her felt it appropriate to provide end-of-life care, the court heard.

Explaining the evidence she gathered, Dr Armour said that Mrs Morgan, who died at Whitehaven’s West Cumberland Hospital in early February 2021, was 5ft 1½in tall and weighed 29 kilograms – about four and a half stone.

The pathologist said muscle wasting was clearly visible on many areas of Mrs Morgan’s body, including on her abdomen and her face, which is usually one of the last areas of the body to lose muscle mass when a person suffers emaciation.

Her cheeks were sunken, unlike those of a healthy person.

Prosecutor Iain Simkin KC asked Dr Armour: “Would it have been obvious that she was in a very poorly condition?” The doctor replied: “In my opinion, yes." She agreed that Mrs Morgan's "hollowed-out features" were obvious.

Mr Simkin asked: “You’d look at her in the face and you’d know there was something wrong?” Dr Armour responded with: “Yes.”

The prosecutor asked Dr Armour how she would characterise the level of emaciation, which prompted the reply: “Severe.”

Mr Simkin then quizzed Dr Armour about the pressure sores found on Mrs Morgan’s body, which the jury were shown in the form of “sanitised images” representing where those wounds were found on her body.

There were sores on her back, her shoulder, her arms, her legs and her buttocks. Also found were areas of skin loss and other areas where tissue had become “necrotic,” meaning that it had died, the jury heard.

Some wounds were typical of those suffered by a person who had remained in the same position without moving. Dr Armour agreed that the presence of faeces and open wounds on Mrs Morgan's body explained her sepsis.

In earlier evidence, Dr Armour confirmed that the history she was given for Mrs Morgan included that she had been sitting in the living room of her home in front of a TV that did not work and out of reach of the telephone.

She was also told that Mrs Morgan had struggled with her mobility and found it difficult to walk. The pathologist confirmed that police had been told that Mrs Morgan was “resistant” to going into hospital or residential care.

The trial continues.