'Justice not done' over fit death

Eileen Murphy and her mother Theresa both died in March 2003

A woman whose sister died after having an epileptic fit said two nurses who did not help should have been jailed.

Eileen Murphy, 36, died in 2003 after a fit lasting up to two-and-half hours at Richard House Care Home in Walsall.

Harjinder Mangat, 58, was handed a four-month suspended jail term and Bernadette Gerrard, 44, a six-month suspended sentence on Thursday.

Ms Murphy's sister Christine Porter, 43, said: "At the end of all this, I do not feel justice has been done."

Mangat, from Sutton Coldfield amd who was the deputy matron at the home, was found guilty of manslaughter by negligence in March.

Gerrard, from Hednesford, Staffs, admitted the same charge.

I felt in my heart something was wrong Christine Porter

But Ms Porter said the pair's behaviour towards her sister was "callous" and she left Stafford Crown Court feeling as if her five-year fight for justice had been for nothing.

"They should have been punished, there should have been a prison sentence - even if it was just a month long," she said.

Ms Murphy had only been at the care home in Aldrige for two weeks when she died on 11 March 2003.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard she had been "left and left" by staff while having a fit.

Home closure

The court heard Mangat and Gerrard were told by other carers: "She's going blue. Help her", but did nothing.

The nurses had failed in their duty of care by not giving Ms Murphy her medication and not calling an ambulance, the court was told.

The Commission of Social Care Inspection said it obtained an emergency closure order and closed the home in November 2005 because of its "unacceptable conditions".

Ms Porter said her sister was only in the home as a temporary measure, while waiting for NHS funding to be agreed for a home for younger people in Staffordshire.

Eileen Murphy was hoping to go to another care home

Ms Porter said she had been very close to her younger sister, who had had epilepsy since she was 18-months-old.

"When we were growing up, she had fits and I would look after her," she said.

She said her sister her "lived her life around her epilepsy" helped by daily medication.

Ms Porter will never forget her shock at receiving a phone call from Richard House in 2003, to say "Eileen has passed away".

She said her suspicions were raised when she identified her sister's body in hospital and there were bruises on her arms and legs which made her think the fit had lasted for some time.

"I felt in my heart something was wrong," she said. She alerted the coroner and the inquest into Ms Murphy's death led to the criminal investigation.

Ms Porter said one of the worst parts was having to tell their ill mother, Theresa, of Eileen's death.

Mrs Murphy died just a week after her daughter, and they were buried together at a Black Country cemetery.