Care home manager found guilty of resident's manslaughter

A former Somerset care home manager has been found guilty by a jury at Bristol crown court of the manslaughter of one of her elderly residents. Rachel Baker, 44, had earlier been cleared of alternative charges of murdering two elderly residents at Parkfields residential care home in Butleigh, Somerset. Baker was found guilty of the manslaughter of 97-year-old Lucy Cox but not guilty of the manslaughter of the other resident, 85-year-old Frances Hay. They died four years ago. The jury had been considering their verdicts for several days. Baker was accused of killing the elderly women with a lethal dose of medication while she herself was abusing controlled drugs. Baker, a registered nurse from Glastonbury, has confessed to feeding her addiction by stealing prescribed and controlled substances from residents at the care home. She denied killing the two women. She did admit, however, 10 counts of possessing class A and C drugs, and one of perverting the course of justice. In her evidence, Baker accepted taking the medication amid the "stress, pain and emotional turmoil" of running the home. But she denied that her "diverting" of residents' drugs ever affected their care. Baker also revealed feeling "useless" after the death of one resident, Fred Green.