A STOURBRIDGE carer and her colleague, whose negligence led to the death of a vulnerable patient, also from the town, have received suspended jail sentences.

Barbara Arch and Wendy Silvester were taking cerebral palsy patient Andrew Strazdins on a seaside break when he died as a result of choking on food in the car.

He suffered from dysphagia, a condition which made it hard for him to swallow and his learning disability meant he tended to cram food into his mouth.

His care plan stated he should only be fed while sat in a chair at a table, given only mashed food and supervised.

He died after the carers gave him a bowl of roughly chopped chicken bites as he sat on his own in the back of the car as it passed through North Devon.

Mr Strazdins, aged 53, lived in a bungalow at Stourbridge where he received 24 hour care provided by a company called Lifeways and paid for by the local authority.

He was on his way to a specially adapted caravan at a holiday park in Bude, Cornwall in May 2014 when he died at Broadwoodwidger on the A30.

The carers both knew of the strict rules about how he should be fed.

They only stopped when they saw him choking and paramedics found the two women crying and distraught after they failed to revive Mr Strazdins.

A risk assessment had warned specifically of the risk of choking and noted the possible consequence as 'Andrew may die'.

Arch, 58, of Smallshire Way, Stourbridge, and Silvester, aged 50, of Newland Court, Birmingham, admitted failing to discharge their duties as carers and were both jailed for six months, suspended for two years by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court.

The charge was reduced from manslaughter to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act at an earlier hearing.

The Judge told the two women:"The risk assessment underlined the possibility Mr Strazdins could choke and die. As his carers you willingly took responsibility for him and were trusted to take him away on holiday for his benefit.

"In recent months there has been much public concern over cases where vulnerable individuals have not been given the care they need or treated harshly. Clearly this is not such a case.

"You were two caring individuals who for some reason fell below the high standards expected of you. It is almost inexplicable that two such caring people took the risk which ultimately led to Mr Strazdins's death.

"There is a striking an irreconcilable contrast between the care you gave and the extraordinary risk of feeding him when there was nobody sitting next to him and the food was not mashed.

"In all the circumstance it seems to me there is no useful purpose served by sending you straight to prison."

Mr Simon Laws, QC, prosecuting, said Arch had cared for Mr Strazdins for more than 10 years and Silvester since 2011 and both knew all about his problems with swallowing and the risk of choking.

Mr Strazdins was found with a two centimetre by two centimetre piece of chicken lodged in his throat and other pieces in his stomach and airways showed he had eaten at least four similar pieces before he died.

Mr Laws added:"If they had been cut up, it was not to a significant degree. They had certainly not been cut up to a size which was manageable by him.

"He had been fed them while he was sat in the back seat of a moving car and without the close supervision he required."

He said Mr Strazdins' sister Elaine Scott had written a moving impact statement which detailed how she had campaigned for years to get him the care he needed and how she hopes the case will lead to improvements in the standards of care which others receive.

Mr Richard Atkins, QC, for Arch, and Mr Graeme Simpson, for Silvester, said they had both loved Mr Strazdins and are still suffering from the psychological trauma of his death.

They had both gone the extra mile to help him and were the only carers who were willing to volunteer to take him on holiday, where they were to have shared the burden of caring for him 24 hours a day

Neither have worked since the tragedy and both will lose their careers as a result.

Mr Atkins said:"They loved him and cared for him and wanted him to get the most he could do out of his life. They showed real compassion and have expressed true remorse."

Mr Simpson said Silvester told him she loved Mr Strazdins to bits and says she felt bereaved when he died.