A former care home manager has been ordered by a court to pay over £4,000 over the deaths of two wheelchair-bound residents on a day trip at Roadford Lake.

Alex Wood, 43, and Alison Tilsley, 63, drowned when their wheelyboat capsized in the tragedy in June 2022.

A third resident, Kate Dart, 69, was seriously injured.

Janice Sowden, 60, admitted three charges of not providing care and treatment in a safe way for service users which resulted in avoidable harm to the three residents.

She was sentenced at Exeter Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, June 16.

The case was prosecuted by the Care Quality Commission, which noted that Janice Sowden arranged the boat trip for six wheelchair users living at Burdon Grange Care Home but no risk assessment was carried out.

The provider, manager and staff failed to assess the risks of the boat trip and did not take reasonable, practical steps to manage the risks for the highly vulnerable people in their care. Staff also failed to plan for what would happen if service users entered the water. One staff member present could not swim.

District Judge Stuart Smith said:"The risk was patently obvious. You were blasé about risk."

Judge Smith noted that after the tragedy, Sowden fabricated a risk assessment document in a “desperate attempt to deceive investigators” but police became suspicious.

She was fined £1,900 by the court and ordered to pay £2,190 towards costs – a total of £4,090.

The three victims were residents at the Burdon Grange Care Home in Highampton, which previously admitted the same charges and was fined £180,000 with £20,000 costs.

Sowden's lawyer told the court that this was “the saddest and most tragic way for her to end her successful career caring for the vulnerable”.

He added: "This was a result of cultural complacency and she accepts that."

Sowden, of Halwill Junction near Okehampton, had previously pleaded guilty on the day her trial was to have begun.

Stefan Kallee, of the Care Quality Commission, said afterwards: “Our sympathies are with the family and friends of Alison Tilsley, Alex Wood and with Kate Dart who experienced serious harm. People receiving care and treatment have the right to expect that any risks to their safety will be effectively managed. This isn’t what happened when they were in the care of Janice Sowden and Burdon Grange Care Home.”

“The majority of adult social care organisations do a great job. However, when people in the care of a service come to harm, we will take action to hold them to account and to protect people in future.

“This fine is not representative of the value of Alison and Alex’s lives or the injuries that Kate suffered, but I hope this prosecution acts as a reminder to all adult social care services and the managers of their duty to assess and manage all risks to ensure people are kept safe.”

The CQC points out that it does not keep the fines that the defendants are issued with by the court, this money goes directly to HM Treasury.