A DISABLED woman who was left to die alone in her bedroom “idolised” her mother, her cousin said.

Elaine Clarke confessed to killing Debbie Leitch, who had Down's Syndrome. She died from severe emaciation and neglect.

Clarke was convicted of gross negligent manslaughter and the judge said she abandoned the 24-year-old "to die in pain, without nourishment in the most awful surroundings".

A post-mortem examination found Debbie had an extensive scabies skin infection.

The family, who previously lived in Hastings, had been well-known to social services in East Sussex and there were concerns about Clarke's parenting skills and those of various partners, John Harrison QC said.

Clarke, who received weekly benefit payments of £215 to care for Debbie, pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter after she initially denied the offence.

The 49-year-old was jailed for nine years and seven months.

The Argus: Elaine Clarke confessed to killing Debbie Leitch, who had Down's Syndrome Elaine Clarke confessed to killing Debbie Leitch, who had Down's Syndrome

In a victim impact statement, Debbie’s cousin Sammy Muggridge said: “The death of Debbie has had a profound effect on me and my family. It only makes it worse that it could have been prevented.

“She idolised her mother. All she wanted was the love and affection of her mother.

“Elaine has always been a lazy and selfish mother. She would buy handbags and shoes but would not get out of bed.”

Ms Muggridge revealed that the last time she saw Debbie in her bedroom, the “stench of death” inside would “live with me forever”.

She added: “It was like something out of a horror movie. Debbie did not have a life. It was robbed by the one person who should have cared for her.”

After moving from Hastings to Leeds, Debbie weighed 10st 1lb. At the time of her death, she weighed 3st 10lb, the court heard.

Mr Harrison said Debbie was dependent on mother-of-four Clarke, who was registered and paid as her carer as each of her children had learning or physical difficulties.

In 2014, the family moved from Hastings to Leeds to live with Clarke’s new boyfriend Robert Bruce and where Debbie used day care services.

The family moved again in August 2016 to Garden Terrace in Blackpool, but Debbie did not access any day care activities.

During a visit in April 2019, Debbie's cousin went up to her bedroom and saw her huddled on her bed.

She was crying for her mother saying her feet were sore, her hair appeared to have been hacked off and her skin was red and cracked, Mr Harrison told Preston Crown Court.

Tim Storrie QC, defending, said Clarke had a “complex family background”, with a father who was physically abusive to her and a mother who had profound health difficulties.

“She is 49 years of age, but she bears the careworn anxieties of a woman of a much greater age,” he said.

“She had four children. None enjoyed good health, and all had challenges to one degree or another. The responsibilities for looking after them were not easy.

“She was unequal to the task of looking after Debbie.”

Mrs Justice Amanda Yip told Clarke: “Your own inadequacies and difficult upbringing may go some way to explaining a general lack of parenting skills. However, this does not offer an excuse for the way you allowed Debbie to die.

“It is hard, though, to escape the conclusion that you simply abandoned Debbie, leaving her to an inevitable fate.

“You prepared Debbie for the pre-arranged visits of the doctor and the social workers so that they saw her in a very different state to that which so shocked your relatives. They had rightly been concerned that, if matters were allowed to continue as they were, Debbie would die.

“If she had been cared for properly in that last month, there is no reason to think her life would have been lost.”