Anyone been following the Jordan Burling death case *warning, distressing*

[SealSong]

Has anyone been following this baffling and tragic case?
Mother and Grandmother have been convicted of manslaughter today.
Jordan aged 18 died at home, emaciated and with bed sores, having had no medical treatment.

Details of the court case in here - warning contains very distressing details.

I am struggling to understand how this could have happened. How the mother and grandmother could have failed to get medical attention, and also how Jordan just gave up and wasted away, when there were no apparent special needs, mental illness or specific health problems (as far as is known). Although surely he must have had some kind of undiagnosed mental illness or something.

I'm surprised that there hasn't been a thread on Mumsnet about this case, it has been in national news, but not very high priority I suppose.

One of the strangest and saddest cases I have ever heard of.

What a very sad story.

I'm quite amazed by some comments about autism on this thread. WTAF is an autistic "look"? And neglect? FGS.

The disorder part of ASD is beginning to be changed to condition - the National Autistic Society calls it a condition not a disorder. Autism is still not fully understood and the reason many people with autism feel offended by the word disorder is because they don't feel disordered! Maybe they struggle to deal with neuro-typical people but the opposite is true. Who is to say who is normal and who is abnormal? It's insulting.

Well, Isuppose it is important for prospective social workers to be aware that some children who have been abused or neglected can present with symptoms akin to autism, and that they may hold an inaccurate autism diagnosis. That isn't the same as saying autism is caused by abuse or neglect. Most autism, esp that without LDs, is hereditary. And "true" autism isn't an outcome of abuse (except in certain circumstances where severe brain injury results in LD and autism, but that is a very small cohort).

Oldbird that makes sense, we looked at case studies where children’s behavioural issues began regressing when neglect was no longer a factor... I accept and appreciate the more in-depth definition.

because you do know but you tell lies.

Fuck me CantankerousCamel you either totally misunderstood that part of your course, or that university seriously needs to update its syllabus.

And if you're a practicing social worker (shudder) I really really hope you don't go round spouting such misinformation because that could be v dangerous.

sorry my comment was in response to the " how could the man not know his partner was pregnant"

CeridwensCottage - not patronising you at all. Didn't even question your education level or IQ. Just stating the current facts of why it's called a disorder. Yes research is changing unfortunately not everything or everyone has caught up with it yet.

NorfolkRattle, this is the point I was trying to make. I don't fully understand ASD but on in Gods name could a man walk around with that image on his phone and think is was OK?

How could the sister who lived nearby not even have the wit to phone the police.
I don't buy it. The bastards.

The I’m not, life too a different turn thank fuck

I've seen attachment disorders referred to as 'Institutional Autism', especially when referring to children raised in Romanian/Chinese orphanages and similar. But that was probably 20+ years ago. Is it possible that the course literature hasn't been updated and is teaching these outdated ideas? If so, it obviously needs rectifying as attachment disorders are not the same thing as autism.

‘The word "autism" comes from the Greek word "autos," which means "self." It describes conditions in which a person is removed from social interaction. In other words, he becomes an “isolated self.” Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, was the first person to use the term.’

Children who have been badly neglected and abused can withdraw into themselves and not develop socially or emotionally.

People - including professionals - assume that autistic people are also withdrawn and cut off from the outside world, when in fact the opposite is true. They’re actually overwhelmed by the world and the people in it, so appear to be non interactive. In reality, they’re taking it all in - and often don’t want to - and trying desperately to cope with the incoming stimuli. People assume autistic people are somehow ‘not present’, but we are and we know exactly what’s going on. We also have a general population range of IQ, so the majority are average or above average. Even non verbal autistics are perfectly intelligent people, they just can’t express themselves verbally. When I speak, I often talk a load of shite and I see people’s faces drop because they think they’re talking to a blabbering fool. I’m not, but my ability to express myself via speech just isn’t that great.

Getting back to this poor boy and his family......

This is what the mother had to say about the baby that was found:

Dawn Cranston said she fell pregnant ‘about 2002/2003’ after having sex with her ex-partner Stephen.
However, she said she didn’t not realise she was pregnant until she gave birth as her periods are ‘erratic’ and she sometimes goes months without having one.

She told the court that she gave birth alone in her bedroom, on a blanket on the floor while her mother, father, Carl, Jordan and Abigail were in other rooms of the house

‘It was late at night and they were still downstairs,’

‘It (the labour) was quicker than previous times. It didn’t feel no longer than half an hour . It was a lot, a lot quicker than previous labours I had before.’

She added: ‘If I remember I was on the floor and I’m pretty sure I put sheets underneath me.’
^Dawn was then asked why she didn’t tell anyone she had given birth.
She said ‘I think I started to panic, I was the only person that knew I’d given birth. There was nobody else upstairs apart from Carl, who was in his room and he didn’t know nothing.’^

Quite aside from how did she not realise she was pregnant, how did she give birth without anyone else in the house realising?

I think the majority of people who are on the autistic spectrum would, seeing a relative in such an appalling state, call the authorities. Yes. And we don't know if the father is on the spectrum or not but yes, whether he is or not, such a failure to act is horrendous and should have been prosecuted (just as the failure to take action by the grandmother, mother and sister was horrendous and was prosecuted.

There are several issues here: learning disability, certainly, ASD, almost certainly. And probably more besides. The fact that ALL the adults in this scenario appear to be as useless and clueless as each other meant that nobody had a picture of what normal family is. Or of what the responsibilities are. I'm not justifying it, it is appalling.

ASD is found across all age ranges. A child who has ASD becomes a teenager with it who then becomes an adult who eventually becomes an older adult with it: it doesn't disappear. My own in-laws are in their 80s and show every sign of being on the spectrum. But ASD wasn't really written about, even by specialists, until the 1980s and not tested for until the 90s. It is tested for, usually, in school-age children (though adults in Britain can ask to be referred to be tested privately, for a fee.)

yes and Norfolk, lets assume the whole family had no idea what " normal" is,what about the outside world?

I dont believe they existed in total isolation. They must have had jobs/benefit/gone shopping.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/harrowing-pictures-show-inside-disgusting-12858602

A similar story, although involving an elderly woman.

VERY UPSETTING - WARNING ETC.

Some families live in total dysfunctionality.

I once nursed a 95 year old lady whom the social worker had finally managed to get admitted to hospital on welfare grounds. The family had stuck her on a commode all day and she’d not been fed or hydrated properly. She was filthy and so frail. The social worker was practically in tears when she told the nursing staff about the family’s behaviour.

You only have to watch those council cleaning documentaries to see how some people, for whatever reason, live and sometimes die.

In one of the articles I've read (I'm sorry I can't link directly to it right now as there were quite a few linked earlier in the thread) there was a reference to Jordan's uncle, who was cared for by the grandmother, as 'severely autistic'. I'm not sure how accurate this is but I am very sure that it was referenced.

Having read the court transcripts the mother worked at Poundland so was clearly able to hold down a job. His father had worked nights but had since moved out.

It seems that the grandfather was extremely controlling. He never let the children cry or show emotion. He killed himself in the house and Jordan’s mother found him.

The sister had a baby of her own and lived near by.

Jordan had gone to school until he was 16 but the whole family had suffered so much abuse, gangs of teens throwing eggs at the house etc.

The mother claims that he just decided one day that he wasn’t going to walk ever again, just sat on the sofa and refused to move.
The grandmother slept downstairs as going upstairs gave her panic attacks.

He just ate junk food and drank 5 fridjj milkshakes a day. Which just doesn’t make sense. There was no fat on him when he was examined.

Maybe they didn't. But my question is: why not?

"We also have a general population range of IQ, so the majority are average or above average".

In fact, 75% of all people diagnosed with an ASD have some level of learning disability; the very brainy, highly articulate person with a high IQ is in the minority. (It can seem like a majority because, by definition, people with ASD who are above average IQ often talk about it on social media, write books about it, etc.)

The low functioning people are more likely to be assessed. The resources for assessment are severely rationed so higher functioning autistics slip through the net or aren’t even assessed until adulthood.

Yes, they had jobs, drew benefits, went shopping, that's true. But it's possible for someone to have a job, fill in benefits forms and go shopping and to still have virtually no emotional intelligence. They functioned after a fashion; it clearly wasn't adequate. (Even leaving Jordan's neglect and eventual death out of the equation, this was a family where the mother had given birth alone to a stillborn (?) baby and nobody knew. A family where the grandfather had been very controlling, i.e. abusive, and who had committed suicide. Multiple problems over at least 3 generations.)

At the end of the day, no-one should have been left in the "care" of a group of people who were totally clueless about caring.

www.sharecare.com/health/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd-living/how-autism-affect-intelligence-levels

He just ate junk food and drank 5 fridjj milkshakes a day. Which just doesn’t make sense. There was no fat on him when he was examined.

It is possible depending on the quantity eaten. 5 fridjj is about 360 calories (and less for the sugar free) and a big bag of haribo is about the same. Few people would last indefinitely on 700 calories every day.