THE doctor tasked with caring for an autistic teenager who drowned in a bathtub has admitted to ‘taking her eye off the ball’.

Dr Valerie Murphy was today banned from the profession for 12 months after admitting a string of ‘catastrophic’ failures, including not carrying out proper risk assessments, during her care for 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk.

Mr Sparrowhawk drowned at Slade House in Headington in 2013 after suffering an epileptic fit whilst in the bath.

Dr Murphy told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) that she now ‘fully accepted’ her role in the death of Mr Sparrowhawk.

The psychiatrist was handed an immediate suspension to be reviewed before the end of the 12 months.

The MPTS also imposed an immediate order of suspension to cover the 28 day appeal period.

In a statement given to the MPTS Dr Murphy said: “I can say that I was able to accept my failings in their various forms in different stages of these proceedings but it is only at this stage that I have been able to accept all my failings.”

She added: “I believe I was distracted by trying to control other clinical situations I perceived to be dangerous and I really did `take my eye off the ball' in this case.”

Mr Sparrowhawk, who had autism and a learning disability, drowned in a bath following an epileptic fit at Slade House in Headington on July 4, 2013.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, who ran the facility, have already admitted a single count of breaching health and safety regulations following Mr Sparrowhawk’s death.

The teen’s family and friends had pushed for action against Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust campaigning under the banner Justice for LB (laughing boy).