THE daughter of an elderly woman who fell from the window of an Oxford care home, last night described the guilt she felt over her mother’s death.

Diana Egan said she wished she had looked at the home’s risk assessment policies before she chose it for her 82-year-old mother Maisie Jones.

Southern Cross Healthcare, which runs the Brookfield Christian Care Home in Little Bury, Greater Leys, was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £120,000 costs after admitting two breaches of health and safety regulations.

Mrs Egan, from Steventon, near Abingdon, said her mother, who was suffering from dementia, had originally been in a different care home in Abingdon, but had to be moved when her condition worsened.

She said: “She kept wandering away. The police had to bring her back twice.

“The home said although they loved having her there, they could not keep her safe.

“After looking at dozens of homes I found Brookfield, which I was very impressed with.

“I had to wait about three months to put her in there because there was a waiting list.

“I did feel I was doing the right thing. But they did let her down.

“I feel guilty because I put her in there.”

The 48-year-old said she looked at dozens of care homes and chose Brookfield because she liked the atmosphere and the way it looked.

She said: “What I would say to anybody looking for a home is do not just go on how it looks. Ask for a risk assessment — I did not even think about it.”

Great grandmother Mrs Jones, fell from a first-floor window at the Brookfield Christian Care Home in June 2003.

Oxford Crown Court heard Mrs Jones, a former beautician, died two months later from pneumonia contracted as a result of the immobility she suffered after fracturing her pelvis during the fall.

Angela Morris, prosecuting, said repairs carried out to a safety catch on the window were inadequate and it could be opened wider than the recommended limit of 100mm.

Miss Morris said the home’s handyman Stewart Shepherd had been ordered to carry out repairs to the windows, but his work had never been checked.

She said: “Effectively he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for.

“It was not a method of repair which was adequate and it was not checked.”

Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, defending, said Mrs Jones had climbed up on to the window sill before she fell.

He said: “There were failings and there were mistakes and the company is very sorry and they apologise for them.

“The company’s failings clearly contributed to that death.”

He said Southern Cross, the UK’s largest care home provider, had since spent £500,000 fitting new safety catches to windows in all its homes.

Judge Bruce McIntyre said: “The defendant failed to give Mr Shepherd adequate instructions as to what repairs were required for the windows and secondly failed to check the repair work that he did was adequate.”

esimmonds@oxfordmail.co.uk