THE family of an elderly man whose dead body was moved to a bed from the floor by staff at a Bolton care home have spoken of their ordeal.

The body of Ronald Dean was found naked in a ‘praying position’ on the floor at Lever Edge Care Home in Lever Edge Lane, Bolton, on January 9, 2016.

The care home’s manager at the time, Lynda Johnson, and her deputy, Deborah Scrivens, were yesterday both sentenced for obstructing the coroner at Bolton Crown Court. Johnson, aged 64, of Calf Hey Close, Radcliffe, admitted telling staff to put the body in the bed and also failing to inform police of the death.

Scrivens, aged 44, of Hurstwood, Smithills, admitted telling staff to move the body, as well as assisting them in doing so and failing to tell the family of the true circumstances of his death.

Speaking to The Bolton News, Mr Dean’s daughter Alison Smith, aged 51, said that the lies of Scrivens and Johnson had robbed them of their grief and described the last 15 months as ‘hell’.

The court heard how overnight between January 8 and January 9, there were meant to be six members of staff on duty but there were only five.

Care assistant Danielle Menzies, was meant to check on Mr Dean every two hours through the night but failed to do so at 6am as she was working alone rather than in a pair.

When she did check on him at 6.30am she found him naked on his hands and knees on the floor dead.

She informed the senior member of staff on duty that night of what she had found and Scrivens was contacted.

Scrivens contacted Johnson who told her to ‘straighten’ Mr Dean out and put him on the bed.

Some staff, including Caroline Grimshaw, refused to put him on the bed and Scrivens was made aware that what she was doing was ‘seriously wrong’.

Scrivens contacted the family and told them that Mr Dean had died peacefully in his sleep.

She later rang them again and asked what they wanted doing with the body and Mrs Smith told her to put him in his wedding suit.

Mr Dean was meant to be giving Mrs Smith away at her wedding later that day.

Mrs Smith said the wedding would not have gone ahead if they had known the true circumstances of what happened.

After initially seeing the body, the family did not get to see Mr Dean again for 11 days as an autopsy took place.

Mrs Smith said: “We had to have an autopsy, which wasn’t what he would have wanted, it took all his dignity away.

“We were all devastated. He was taken from us for all those days because of the selfish decisions of the people we trusted with dad’s wellbeing.

“What they did robbed us was our grief. He was a religious and very very good man. He was very caring, he was a fantastic father.”

Sentencing of care home bosses who told staff to put dead body in bed

Neither Scrivens nor Johnson made the police or the coroner aware of the death and also provided false information to a doctor.

The following day, Mrs Grimshaw’s daughter contacted the police and made them aware of the incident.

Alex Leach, representing Johnson, said she expressed deep remorse for what she had done and had conveyed her apologies to the family and was trying to spare them ‘unnecessary trauma’ and Colin Buckle, representing Scrivens, described her as extremely remorseful.

Mrs Smith however, said that the apologies were 15 months too late.

She said: “They could have spared us all this but they decided to lie.”

The family have not yet buried Mr Dean as some specimens are held by the coroner.

The family called for CCTV to be installed in care homes and thanked police and the CPS for their work.

Mr Dean left behind his wife Nora, who Mrs Smith said had struggled since his death. He also left behind four children, 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren

Johnson was handed a community order to run for 12 months and must carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £2000 prosecution costs.

Scrivens was handed a six month community order, including a curfew for 90 days to remain at her home between 7pm and 5am.

Mr Buckle told the court how Scrivens was suffering from breast cancer which means she is unable to work and also suffered personal bereavement in the past 12 months.