Inquest into care home deaths to begin

An inquest into care home deaths in Brithdir is set to get underway.

The inquest into the deaths at Brithdir Nursing Home, which happened between 2003 and 2005, will be opened on January 18 and will run until March 15.

The inquest will initially focus on the deaths of Stanley Bradford, Evelyn Jones and Edith Evans.

Fresh questions were raised about a £15m investigation into care home neglect following the death of the man at its centre – Dr Prana Das – in January last year.

Operation Jasmine spanned seven years and was launched in 2005 following the death of an 84-year-old woman at a care home in Newbridge.

Police investigated the deaths of 63 people in care homes across south-east Wales, including two in Caerphilly County Borough.

Dr Das was facing charges of fraud as well as Health and Safety charges when his trial collapsed in 2013 after he suffered a brain injury following an attack by burglars.

Paul Black – the chief executive of Dr Das’ care home company Puretruce Healthcare Ltd, which is now defunct – was also facing Health and Safety related charges.

It was deemed “inappropriate” at the time to continue with the prosecution of Mr Black by the trial judge.

Charges for both men lay on file, meaning the prosecution could have resumed.

According to an independent review of Operation Jasmine, conducted by Dr Margaret Flynn at the behest of Welsh Government, the two men “should have and could have been prosecuted”.

Caerphilly MP Wayne David raised concerns about the practices of Dr Das’ company in Parliament in 2005.

Mr David welcomed the start of the inquest and said: “I very much hope that the inquest will provide at least some closure for the relatives. 

“It is important that the terrible catalogue of events which led to the avoidable death of so many frail people is set out. 

“Hopefully, the lessons of this painful episode are being learnt. Abuse of the elderly must not occur in any care home and it is the responsibility of society as a whole to make sure that this is the case.”