Manslaughter accused Robert Morgan denies 'leaving wife to die ''

Robert Christopher Morgan, 61, made the comment during his cross examination at his Carlisle Crown Court, where he and his co-defendant David Holyoak, his wife’s son by another man, both deny the same allegation. 

Dorothy Morgan, 71, died in February 2021.

She was admitted to hospital in a state of extreme emaciation, severely dehydrated, and with bedsores that led to her contracting sepsis. The trial has heard that in her final weeks at home she was living on a settee in "filthy conditions."

This included her being covered in her own urine and faeces.

Prosecutors say Morgan and Holyoak should have sought help for Mrs Morgan earlier than they did. But they say they were respecting her wishes not to be helped.

Prosecutor Iain Simkin KC said that from early January 2021, Morgan had “failed to take care of her basic human needs.” Morgan accepted this.

Asked why he had done nothing about the urine and faeces that his wife had been lying on the sofa, the defendant said: “I didn’t notice.” Nor did he notice his wife’s toes were gangrenous, he told the jury.

Things "got on top of him," he said.

“You simply left her there to die,” said the barrister.

“No," said Morgan.

He said he had not smelled any evidence of the state his wife was in. He again denied that he had “just left his wife to die” and Mr Simkin’s suggestion that he had hardly anything to do with his wife.

Mr Simkin told Morgan: “You are lying because you know you left her there to die; you are telling this jury whatever you can to try to get away with it. Is that right?”

Morgan replied: “No – that’s not correct.”

Mr Simkin then asked Morgan about Mrs Morgan failing to have sufficient food or drink while she was living on the settee.

Morgan responded with: “She had it; I don’t know if she ate it or drank it. It was certainly supplied.” He accepted that the settee was not clean and that he did not take care to ensure it was sufficiently clean.

But Morgan refuted the suggestion that it was “in his nature” to leave his wife in filth. Asked why he had not cleaned the faeces that was on his wife and the settee, Morgan said: “I wasn’t aware of any.”

Mr Simkin said: “It was obvious that unless you intervened, she was going to die.”

Morgan said: “No." Mr Simkin said: “You left her because you could not be bothered to do anything else.” The defendant replied: “That is vastly not true.”

The trial continues.