Pensioner freezes to death

A pensioner froze to death after staff at her nursing home failed to notice she had climbed onto a ledge and opened the window during a bitterly cold night.

Grandmother Maud Lever, 94, who had only gone to the home for a week to give her 75-year-old daughter a break, was found on the window sill the following morning, suffering from severe hypothermia and close to death.

Her body temperature had fallen to 26C - at least 10C below normal - and an inquest found she died due to neglect. The case again raises the question of care home standards.

But the Evening Standard has also discovered that the nurse in charge of Mrs Lever that night, 40- year- old Chandradeo Seeratun, was moonlighting from another job and had been working for 24 hours.

The family of Mrs Lever, from Mill Hill, is considering legal action against the £740-a-week Kestrel Grove home in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Owner Paul Tripp expressed "deep regret" and added: "Our home offers the best care and we have been let down by one person. He didn't follow our procedures or those of a qualified nurse."