THE mum of an autistic teenager who drowned in the bath after an epileptic fit says the eight-month wait for a tribunal date for six nurses was ‘ridiculous.’

Dr Sara Ryan was informed she and her family would have to wait until May next year for the tribunals to begin, which will investigate the culpability of staff who worked at a Headington NHS unit when her son Connor Sparrowhawk died.

She said: “It is just ludicrous.

“This whole process has been going on for years and now we have to wait another eight months before these tribunals can even begin, ridiculous.”

Connor - who had autism, epilepsy and a learning difficulty – was found submerged in a bath at Slade House at 9am on July 4, 2013. He died at the John Radcliffe hospital, Oxford.

On Monday Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety law at Banbury Magistrates Court.

Dr Ryan added: “I have mixed feelings about Monday.

“Obviously it is great news that they pleaded guilty, because they are guilty but after the way they have treated us and Connor I just feel it has taken four and a half years for them to finally hold their hands up.

“It is a very long time.”

A date has yet to be set for when the health trust will be sentenced.

In the meantime Dr Ryan will be organising along with the charity My Life My Choice a get-together of Connor’s supporters and friends.

She said: “It will kind of be something between a celebration and a demonstration.

“We might bring out our gingerbread men again to highlight the deaths of people with learning disabilities.”