22-05-2025
Owners of care home where manager was wrongly arrested after three residents died criticise police for putting them under 'shadow of suspicion and speculation for seven months'
The owners of a care home at the centre of a police investigation into the deaths of three residents have savaged officers for putting them under a 'shadow of suspicion' that wrongly hung over their staff for seven months.
The manager of the Gainsborough Care Home in Swanage, Dorset, was arrested for manslaughter after the sudden and unexplained deaths last October.
The incident sparked widespread panic with fears a carbon monoxide leak had caused the deaths of two men aged 74 and 91 and an 86-year-old woman.
Emergency services rushed to the care home at 7:17am on October 23 last year after the three residents were found dead in their rooms.
Last week Dorset Police confirmed that the 74-year-old man and 86-year-old woman died from natural causes on the same night.
A 91-year-old man named as John Mauruce Drake also died on the same night from a serious kidney infection after a bladder blockage caused by long term use of a catheter.
More than 40 staff and residents were evacuated from the care home and several residents were taken to hospital 'as a precaution'.
Agincare said this was not due to carbon monoxide poisoning but the result of residents not receiving their medication, breakfast or other routine care due to the disruption.
The scene outside All Saints Church close to the care home shows the scale of the response by emergency services on October 23
Bosses at Agincare, the firm which owns the home, have now claimed that carbon monoxide poisoning was ruled out 'within hours' of the arrest of the care home manager, a 60-year-old woman, on October 23 last year.
Yet it wasn't until May 12 this year the police publicly confirmed the causes of the deaths, something that resulted in 'ongoing distress'.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Agincare said: 'We are very pleased that this long and drawn-out police investigation is now closed and that initial concerns about carbon monoxide or any other environmental causes have been discredited and ruled out.
'The impact of this incident has caused ongoing distress, not only to the families who have had to wait months to discover the cause of death of their loved ones, but also to the residents who were evacuated and displaced.
'This has also had a profound impact on the care home manager, who was arrested, and her team who have lived under the shadow of suspicion and speculation for seven months.'
They said the death of three residents in a short period of time was 'profoundly sad' but not unknown in care and nursing homes.
The spokesperson for the care home, that caters for people with dementia, added: 'Agincare's thoughts remain with everyone affected, and we would like to thank the Swanage community for their support during this time.'
At the time Chief Superintendent Heather Dixey, of Dorset Police, stated that carbon monoxide 'is our primary line of enquiry'.
The care home manager was arrested for suspected manslaughter that day.
She was released on police bail but the investigation into her involvement was not closed until November 14.
Police said then the arrest was made 'to enable us to take a full account and recover any available evidence, while providing legal protection to the person'.
DCI Neil Third said: 'The arrest was also made to establish where there were any actions or omissions by that individual that were believed to be grossly negligent and we have now reached a position where we do not believe that to be the case.'
A police spokesperson said: 'Due to the unusual circumstances involving three deaths occurring in close succession and no immediate confirmed cause of the deaths, a multi-agency response was instigated and an investigation was launched.
'Information presented to police during the early stages indicated a possible link to the presence of carbon monoxide.
'Following this information, a 60-year-old local woman was arrested as part of the investigation in order to gather all available evidence and provide legal protection to the individual involved.
'Within a short space of time, detectives were able to rule out a leak of carbon monoxide from the care home's boiler or any other gas appliances.
'A thorough examination of the scene also ruled out any other apparent environmental factors that may have contributed to the deaths.
'Once these enquiries had concluded, the arrested woman was immediately released from the investigation without charge.'
