Parents jailed for leaving their daughter to die in squalor have had their sentences increased at the court of appeal.
Kaylea Titford, 16, was found in conditions described as “unfit for any animal”, after her death at the family home in Newtown, Powys, in October 2020.
Her mother, Sarah Lloyd-Jones, 40, watched via videolink as three appeal court judges increased her sentence from six to eight years on Friday.
Her father, Alun Titford, 45, did not attend the hearing, during which his jail term was increased from seven and a half years to 10 years.
He received a longer sentence because he pleaded not guilty to gross negligence manslaughter and was convicted at trial by a jury at Mold crown court in February. Lloyd-Jones pleaded guilty before the trial started.
Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mrs Justice McGowan and His Honour Judge Bate, said at the court of appeal: “The circumstances can only be categorised as extreme, Kaylea was living in unimaginable squalor.”
William Emlyn Jones KC, representing the attorney general’s office, said: “By virtue of the combination of the duration of the neglect, the nature of the victim’s prolonged suffering, the extent of the victim’s vulnerability and absolute dependence on her parents for care, and ultimately, the appalling conditions in which she was left to live and ultimately die, this is an offence which falls into the definition of ‘extreme’.”
Lewis Power KC and David Elias KC, representing Lloyd-Jones and Titford respectively, argued the original sentences were “well placed”.
Emlyn Jones said the original sentences were “unduly lenient”, concluding they failed to reflect “culpability, the seriousness of the offending and the gravity of the aggravating features”.
Popplewell said Kaylea was in “very considerable pain, misery and distress”, and in an “utterly degrading” condition, despite being vulnerable.
Kaylea, who had spina bifida and used a wheelchair, died after experiencing inflammation and infection from ulceration, arising from obesity and immobility. She weighed 152kg (22st 13lb), with a BMI of 70, when she died.
