Church fined over pensioner's Dundee care home death
- Published
Wellburn Care Home closed shortly after Mr Connor's death
The Catholic Church has been fined £40,000 after admitting it was to blame for the death of a 94-year-old man at a Dundee care home in 2017.
Peter Connor fell from the second floor of Wellburn Care Home, which was run by the Church's Diocese of Dunkeld.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld Trust previously admitted criminal responsibility for Mr Connor's death.
A court heard the home failed to put security on its windows to prevent them being fully opened by residents.
The Diocese of Dunkeld Ltd was given four years to pay the fine.
'Serious breach'
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael said: "The offender has pleaded guilty to a very serious breach of its legal duty by failing to take adequate precautions to make windows safe at the Wellburn Care Home.
"Mr Connor's exposure to this avoidable risk proved to be fatal.
"The provision of adequate safeguards against falling from windows was a basic requirement."
Mr Connor, who suffered from dementia, fell nearly 30ft (9.1m) onto concrete after climbing out of a second floor window a fortnight after moving into the church-run care home.
The court was told that the care home was closed shortly after Mr Connor's death and all of the residents were rehoused elsewhere.
'Profound regret'
Peter Gray QC, for the Church, told the court at a previous hearing: "It is a matter of most profound regret and remorse in equal measure that he lost his life as a result of failings for which the Diocese is responsible."
He said the failure to install window restrictors was a "genuine and honest oversight" and "a risk that was never picked up."
The sheriff said that because the church had set up the organisation as a limited company and registered charity, the level of fine he could impose would be restricted.
He said he had to treat the Diocese as a "micro-organisation" and reduced his headline fine from £100,000 to £60,000. It was then reduced by a third for an early guilty plea to £40,000.
Mr Connor's family indicated previously they were suing the Church over the death.