Police arrest 11 on suspicion of manslaughter of care home resident

Resident died shortly after moving from care home that closed at short-notice following damning inspection.

Police have arrested 11 people on the suspicion of the manslaughter of an 86-year-old care home resident.

The arrests are part of an investigation by Nottinghamshire Police into the death of Ivy Atkin, who died on 22 November 2012 shortly after being moved from the Autumn Grange Residential Home in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham, which had closed at short-notice. Five men (aged 37, 44, 56, 64 and 77) and six women (aged 19, 20, 25, 28, 29 and 52) were arrested yesterday.

Five were bailed later that day pending further inquiries – two men aged 56 and 64 and three women aged 19, 20 and 28. The rest remain in custody.

Nottinghams Safeguarding Adults Board have launched a serious case review into Atkin’s death, which will report after criminal and coronial proceedings have ended.

Sherwood Rise Limited, the company that ran Autumn Grange, closed the home in November 2012, days after the Care Quality Commission raised serious concerns about the home following an inspection, and started enforcement action.

The CQC reported seeing “multiple examples of neglectful care in practice and in records” including residents wearing the same clothes for several days and “records of service users sustaining unexplained injuries and bruising” that seemed not to have been reported to Nottingham City Council’s safeguarding team.

A spokesman for the CQC said: “The CQC is aware that several arrests have been carried out as part of an ongoing investigation into the death of a former resident at Autumn Grange Residential Home in Sherwood Rise, Nottingham. We would like to offer our sympathy to the family of the deceased. The CQC worked closely with Nottingham City Council last year when concerns were found and residents were moved to alternative accommodation. A police investigation is ongoing and we are unable to comment any further at this stage.”

The cause of Atkin’s death has not been revealed.

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