Top News

The deaths of three elderly residents at a care home that led to a woman being arrested for manslaughter were a tragic coincidence, it has finally been revealed. have confirmed that a 74-year-old man and an 86-year-old woman died from natural causes on the same night at the Gainsborough in Swanage.

The death on the same night of the third resident, a 91-year-old man named as John Maurice Drake, has also now been explained. Mr Drake, a former security guard, died on the night of October 23, 2024 from a serious kidney infection after a bladder blockage caused by long term use of a catheter although police said there was no third-party involvement or ‘contribution of any environmental factors’ linked to the death. There will be an inquest held into his death.

The emergency services raced to the care home that caters for dementia sufferers at 7.17am on October 23 last year after the three residents were found dead in their rooms. At the time it was feared that carbon monoxide poisoning may have been to blame and more than 40 residents and staff were moved out as a precaution.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

A 60-year-old local woman was arrested for manslaughter at the time before later being released without charge when police were satisfied there was no CM poisoning or evidence of neglect. A spokesperson for Dorset Police justified the controversial decision to make the arrest, saying that doing so ‘provided legal protection’ for the suspect.

They said: “Due to the unusual circumstances involving three deaths occurring in close succession and no immediate confirmed cause of the deaths, a multi-agency response was instigated and an investigation was launched. Information presented to police during the early stages indicated a possible link to the presence of carbon monoxide.

“Following this information, a 60-year-old local woman was arrested as part of the investigation in order to gather all available evidence and provide legal protection to the individual involved. Within a short space of time, detectives were able to rule out a leak of carbon monoxide from the care home’s boiler or any other gas appliances.

“A thorough examination of the scene also ruled out any other apparent environmental factors that may have contributed to the deaths. Once these enquiries had concluded, the arrested woman was immediately released from the investigation without charge.”

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Third, of Dorset Police Major Crime Investigation Team, said: “Throughout our investigation we have continued to work closely with partner agencies and HM Coroner, and have kept them informed with updates from our findings. We were duty bound, and indeed the public would expect us, to fully investigate the circumstances of the deaths. All agencies worked closely together and the relevant experts were consulted.

“At the forefront of our minds have been the families of the three individuals involved, as we have conducted exhaustive enquiries into the full circumstances of the deaths of their loved ones. We have kept them fully updated and would like to thank them for the way they have conducted themselves over recent months as we carried out a range of complex enquiries.

“We also fully recognise the impact of these deaths and subsequent investigation had on the local community in Swanage and we want to thank residents of the town for the way they have rallied round to support those affected. I particularly want to thank residents of the care home and their families, who were displaced as we carried out enquiries at the scene to determine that there was no ongoing risk to the public.

“We have endeavoured to share information with the public wherever possible in relation to our ongoing investigations to be transparent and prevent speculation and misinformation. However, it was also important that we did not prejudice any potential findings until all outstanding enquiries had been fully resolved and expert evidence was received that enabled us to reach our conclusions.”