Oxfordshire recluse’s ‘mental illness led to starvation death’

A millionaire died after starving himself for several months due to a psychiatric illness, a court has heard.

Anthony Sootheran's body was found at High Havens Farm, near South Newington, Oxfordshire, in March 2014.

The 59-year-old was able to procure food until the last weeks of his life, when he was apparently "neglected", a doctor told Reading Crown Court.

Mr Sootheran's live-in tenants Lynda and Wayne Rickard, from Banbury, deny murdering him.

Prosecutors previously said Mrs Rickard, 62, deprived her landlord of food and drink as part of a plan to steal his fortune.

She has admitted forging wills in the names of both Mr Sootheran and his deceased mother, Joy, as well as spending tens of thousands of pounds of their money, the jury has heard.

Consultant geriatrician Dr Peter Kroker told the court the millionaire lost a third of his body weight - 26 kg (four stone) - in the last 15 months of his life.

He said: "For a very long period, when this man was still mobile, I cannot assume he was unable to get food.

"He was possibly starved but I doubt it very much... I think this was psychiatric disease."

However Dr Kroker said the millionaire would have been reliant on other people after a reported fall on 23 February 2014.

He said: "Here is a person who after two falls was not able to resume normal activity, to walk.

"He stayed in his room, he needed care, he needed people to look after him... In my opinion he must have been neglected."

The millionaire had not eaten for at least 34 hours before his death on or before 18 March, he added.

A combination of malnutrition and a deep-seated pressure sore on Mr Sootheran's back led to a fatal lung infection, Dr Kroker said.

The "very painful" and apparently untreated sore would have been obvious on the skin for about a week, he added.

Mrs Rickard phoned the NHS 111 line on 23 February to report the fall but did not take him to hospital, the court previously heard.

She denies gross negligence manslaughter, while her husband, 66, denies causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult, as alternatives to the murder charge.

They both deny fraudulently using Joy Sootheran's money to buy a Mitsubishi Shogun car.

Three of Mrs Rickard's friends, Shanda Robinson, 51, and Michael Dunkley, 49, from Banbury, and Denise Neal, 41, from Lower Tysoe, Warwickshire, deny fraudulently signing wills.

However, another friend, June Alsford, 78, from Aynho, Northamptonshire, has admitted the charge.

Mr Rickard denies perverting the course of justice by attempting to pass off a will as genuine while Ms Robinson denies conspiring to do the same.

The trial continues.

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