Mom Who Starved Daughter with Down's Syndrome to Death Gets Almost 10 Years

A mother, who failed to take care of her daughter with Down's syndrome, has been sentenced to almost 10 years in prison. Elaine Clarke, 49, initially denied that she was responsible for her daughter's death but a court judge has ruled she will face prison time for nine years and seven months.

Clarke has been charged with gross negligent manslaughter after her daughter with Down's syndrome was found dead inside her small and filthy room in their home in Blackpool in the U.K. in 2019. According to prosecutor John Harrison, Debbie, 24, was extremely emaciated and suffered from a terrible skin condition from her scalp to the soles of her feet.

The police had a hard time identifying if she was a man or a woman due to the state of her body. She died in urine-soaked clothes and her skin had mites crawling on her. Harrison also said that Debbie's ribs poked through her skin.

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Sentence Not Enough for Debbie's Father

Thomas Leitch, Debbie's father, however, fears that his ex-wife's sentence is not enough considering how much their daughter suffered in her mother's hands. Leitch believes that Clarke waited for days before calling about Debbie's death as he described his ex-wife as a "lazy and selfish" mom.

The father only learned of the details surrounding Debbie's state of health before her death during the court proceedings that started in 2021. Leitch and Clarke split up when Debbie was 5 years old and then social services decided that their daughter with Down's syndrome should live with her mother.

Debbie was 7 years old when Clarke remarried and Leitch faced a hard battle to see his daughter. The father claimed that Debbie begged to stay with her dad but every request to social services was turned down.

The social services provided $288 a week to Clarke as Debbie's disability benefit but Leitch had no idea what his ex-wife did with the money.

"[Debbie] asked to come and live with me, but because of the social's involvement, it didn't happen," Leitch said, per The Sun. "She was still under the care of the social and a care company too."

Families and neighbors said that Debbie had looked up to her mom as her idol. Despite her condition, they thought she grew up with a pretty normal life. She went away to college and even had a boyfriend. However, when Debbie returned home after college, Clarke apparently then mostly kept her locked away in her bedroom.

Warning to Clarke

Sammy Mugridge, Clarke's niece, told the court that she warned her aunt that Debbie may die because of her neglect. It was Mugridge who reported the situation to social services, sparking a doctor's visit to the mother and daughter with Down's syndrome in July 2019.

Since the visit was pre-arranged, Clarke was able to clean Debbie's room and bathe her daughter. She also told the doctor that she was applying medication on Debbie's skin infections. The following month, the doctor wasn't able to have access to Debbie's house while succeeding requests to check her were ignored.

During her arraignment last year, Clarke entered a "not guilty" plea but she changed her mind in January 2022, in the days leading up to the trial. Robert Bruce, Debbie's stepfather, was also charged for causing Debbie's death but the prosecutors eventually dropped the case against him.

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