Overview

• Jurors at the Old Bailey found NELFT guilty of failing to ensure the safety of a non-employee after 125 hours of deliberation but cleared it of corporate manslaughter
• Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa was convicted of failing to take reasonable care for patient health and safety and acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter
• Charges stemmed from Alice Figueiredo’s death at Goodmayes Hospital when staff did not remove plastic items she had used in repeated self-harm attempts
• The case marked only the second time an NHS trust faced corporate manslaughter charges following an investigation launched in 2016 and charges brought in September 2023
• Alice’s mother, Jane Figueiredo, has urged radical reforms in mental health services to prevent further avoidable tragedies