GUILTY UK - Jordan Burling, 18, Died Weighing Less Than 6 Stone, Body Of Baby Also Found, Leeds, June 2016

[Tortoise]

She responded: "I didn't think he would die, I didn't want him to die, I tried to look after him."

Ms Cranston told the jury she had suffered several traumatic incidents in her life, including the suicide of her father in 2006, while she was in the bedroom next door.

"It sent me into freefall... I felt like I was in another world with the depression," she said.

The court heard she had not slept upstairs since her father's death, choosing to sleep on the downstairs sofa in the lounge instead.

Mother of emaciated teen 'shut down'

 

[Tortoise]

I thought it was reported earlier that Denise also slept downstairs since the death of her husband. So all three of them must have been downstairs including Jordan.

 

[Tortoise]

...But on Thursday Dawn Cranston claimed she had asked her son 'constantly' about his health.

She claimed he had maintained a 'stocky build' as a teenager but experienced 'fluctuations in his weight' in the years before he died.

'He started to get thinner at one stage, he would put on weight and then he would lose it again. It was back and forth like that for maybe a few years,' she told jurors.

She said she, Denise and Abigail fed him 'all sorts of different things' including pizza, spaghetti bolognese, ravioli, spare ribs, crisps and Haribo.

But she admitted she struggled to keep track of his diet and dental hygiene after she started working frequent night shifts in 2011.

He 'suddenly got to the point where he wouldn't move out of the chair or anything like that', she told the court.

She said that, despite him 'talking like normal', he was clearly unwell and had to start wearing nappies after refusing to move from his chair.

Mother of 18-year-old 'allowed to rot to death' said he was healthy in the months before | Daily Mail Online

 

[Sooty]

Dawn Cranston returns to witness box for cross-examination
Dawn Cranston has returned to the witness box.
Yesterday she was questioned by the defence barrister and today she is due to be cross examined by Jason Pitter QC, who is representing Denise Cranston.

 

[Sooty]

Dawn Cranston's father was 'domineering character'
Mr Pitter began by asking Dawn Cranston about her father.
He asked whether it would be fair to describe him as a ‘domineering character’ who was controlling and she said yes.
She said that he wasn’t often physically aggressive but he became more volatile when he ‘came down with depression’.
Mr Pitter then asked if he was capable of ‘lashing out?’ and she said ‘yes, he was’.
‘It was like being on eggshells’ she added.
She then explained that he didn’t want her mother Denise to cry in front of him.

‘He didn’t like her crying. I she would cry he would tell her and stuff like that. He didn’t like it.’

‘When my grandad died, I think it were on Christmas Eve. When he died I remember her being upset and he didn’t like it.’

She also said that he father ‘didn’t like showing emotion himself’.

 

[Sooty]

Dawn 'couldn't tell Jordan what to do'
Mr Pitter moved on to Jordan and asked Dawn Cranston whether he was stubborn and strong willed.
She said: “Yes he was.”
He asked whether Jordan ‘knew his own mind’ and she said: “Oh yeah definitely”.
Mr Pitter then asked I Jordan was excited about turning 18.

“Oh yeah it were a big deal. He thought he was the man of the house. You couldn’t tell him what to do.”

 

[Sooty]

Mr Pitter moved on to the end of 2015, to talk about the months leading up to Jordan’s death and whether she noticed that he was losing weight.
She admitted there was some concern but said his weight ‘fluctuated through his teenage years’.


Mr Pitter then asked about the why she didn’t call a doctor.
She said he refused to see one, because on their last visit a doctor refused to see Jordan.


“It was after the last time we went, he wouldn’t go after that.
“We was in the waiting room and they wouldn’t see us.”


She added: “We were sat in the waiting room and they wouldn’t see us.”

 

[Sooty]

Mother 'scared Jordan would refuse' to see doctor
Mr Pitter then said that photographs and witnesses who saw Jordan suggest that he was in ‘a very bad way’ and asked Dawn if she agreed.
She agreed, but said she talked with him regularly, bought him food and watched wrestling with him.
She also claims that he played Xbox 1 regularly against his grandmother.
Mr Pitter then asked if she and mother considered calling a doctor even though he refused.
She said yes.
Mr Pitter also asked whether she considered that he was legally an adult and she said yes.
She then told the court:

“We didn’t want to go against what he said, because we were scared that if somebody turned up he would refuse.”

 

[Tortoise]

Thank you Sooty.

I'll just provide the link here for your updates. As a new member you may not know we have to provide links for everything we quote.

Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Sooty]

Thank you Tortoise! I'm sorry I didn't realise.

 

[Tortoise]

No need to apologise. Thanks for doing the updates!

 

[Sooty]

He thought he was going to get better'
Nicholas Lumley, prosecuting, has just cross examined Dawn Cranston.
He started by asking her why she did not act when he was ‘disappearing before your very eyes’.
She said:

“He thought he was going to get better.”

The barrister then pointed out that his pressure sores were getting ‘deeper and deeper’ but again she said ‘We thought he was going to get better’.

“Was it your fault that he did not get help sooner?” asked Mr Lumley.

“No because he was always asking and I used to care for him and that.”

The barrister asked Dawn if her mother or daughter were to blame for Jordan’s death and she said no.

Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Sooty]

• “I listened to what he wanted and I miss him every single day”
  • Mr Lumley asked Dawn whether it was Jordan’s fault that he died.
    
    “I listened to what he wanted.”
    
    “I listened to what he wanted and I miss him every single day.”
    
    
    ‘Could you had done something sooner?’ asked Mr Lumley.
    
    “I didn’t want him to die.”
    
    
    She added:
    
    “I listened to what he wanted and started to shut down.”
    
    Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house
    

 

[Sooty]

I have to pop out now if anyone would like to take over the updates.

 

[Tortoise]

I don't mind doing them for a while.

 

[Tortoise]

Trial (Part Heard) - Case adjourned until 12:15 - 11:57
Trial (Part Heard) - No Event - 12:19

Leeds Crown Court Listings, hearings, cases & details

I always think "No Event" is so helpful

 

[Tortoise]

Ok now I've got to pop out too. There haven't been any updates in the last 50 minutes.

 

[Legally Bland]

I can do some updates for about an hour.
________________

13:15
"I thought he would get better"
Mr Lumley then told Dawn ‘you failed Jordan and are responsible for his death’ before saying that her mother and daughter should also accept some responsibility.

“I took care of him because I thought he would get better”

Mr Lumley then showed the court images of the bag inside the cupboard where the baby was kept.

He asked her if she had any intention of keeping the baby and wanted to get rid of it.

“No I like children”

He asked her why she didn’t get help when she realised the baby was dead.

“If the baby was alive, which it wasn’t, I would have”

Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[Legally Bland]

13:17
'She is obviously a perceptive person'
Mr Lumley said Dawn Cranston is obviously a perceptive person who has several GCSEs and can hold a conversation.

She agreed but said that when she becomes depressed she is ‘all over the place’.

Mr Lumley then started asking about the baby again and whether she relapsed that she knew she was pregnant.

She said she didn’t realise she was pregnant until she gave birth.

Mr Lumley asked her whether she realised she was gaining weight.

“I used to have a lot more weight on me than I do now

“I used to be quite round, a lot more than I am now

“I would say a few more stone than I am now”

Live: Family on trial after dead teen and baby found in Leeds house

 

[SugarQueen]

OT, I don’t know why I’m suddenly getting redirected when I try to “ like” a post? It takes me to another page asking if I’m sure I want to like the post.
Please consider ALL your posts liked by me! Lol