Lauren Ellis death: Guernsey nurses found not guilty

Two nurses have been found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in the case of a woman who took her own life on a Guernsey mental health ward.

Rory McDermott, 32 and Naomi Prestidge, 30, were charged after Lauren Ellis was found dead at the Oberlands mental health unit on 17 October 2017.

Nine jurats delivered a majority verdict of 7-2 in Guernsey's Royal Court.

They were unable to agree that the accused were criminally negligent.

Summing up Judge Russell Finch said there had been no similar case in a Guernsey court before.

Both nurses had admitted failing to conduct welfare checks on Ms Ellis every 15 minutes after 01:00 BST.

Her body was discovered more than 90 minutes later.

CCTV evidence played to the court had shown the defendants were unoccupied during this period, spending much of it on their phones.

The mental health campaigner, who suffered from an emotionally unstable personality disorder and had a history of self harm, died of ligature strangulation.

She went to A&E several times after self-harming in the days before admitting herself to Oberlands in order to break that cycle.

Ms Ellis's mother, Dawn, spoke to Mr McDermott on the phone with concerns about her daughter's wellbeing and was told: "Not to worry; we'll keep a close eye on her".

Senior medical staff did not consider Ms Ellis a "serious risk" of taking her own life, the defence said.

She had been left unchecked for extended periods earlier in the day, and staff on a previous shift had failed to remove an item of risk when she was admitted.