The mother and stepfather of an autistic man who was discovered “close to death” after being locked in an attic without food have each been jailed for six years.
Lorna Hewitt, 43, and Craig Hewitt, 42, were sentenced on Friday after being found guilty of falsely imprisoning Matthew Langley, 22, at their home in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
The court heard Mr Langley was severely dehydrated when he was found in the attic room, which was strewn with his faeces and vomit which had attracted flies. A key had been left outside the locked door.
When he was discovered, medics said he weighed just six stone (39kg). Seven months earlier, in November 2019, he had weighed 8.5 stone (53.6kg), the court heard.
Judge Michael Slater condemned Ms Hewitt’s actions as “a grave abuse of trust between a mother and her son” during the sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday.
He added: “You were the primary carer for Matthew with all his difficulties and challenges.
“It makes it all the more inexplicable to me that for those seven months you failed to provide him with the support and provision of food and drink that he craved and needed.”
The couple had previously denied keeping the 22-year-old locked up at their home for the duration of seven months. But the Hewitts were found guilty following the trial.
They were also convicted of causing or allowing a vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm.
The severely underweight and dehydrated Matthew was found by paramedics “with his life hanging in the balance,” the court heard.
Prosecutors said the ambulance was called to the Hewitt’s home in Sheffield in the early hours of 2 June 2020. Matthew was then admitted to an intensive care unit in a “pitiable state”.
Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, told the court he was found to have abrasions on his body, likely because he had been moving around on all fours.
Matthew also suffered serious damage to a kidney with high sodium levels relating to severe dehydration.
Mr Campbell added: “His sodium levels were dangerously high. They measured 180.
“They were so high they could shut down his brain and kill him. Anything above 145, there is a real chance of death.
“The Home Office pathologist examined the injuries and said the abrasions and bruises were consistent in his view with Matthew having been crawling on all fours over objects in his path.”
But Mr Campbell told the court that Matthew made a good physical recovery thanks to the hard work of medical professionals.
When he was discharged from hospital he weighed 55kg.
A report from psychologist Rekha Davis read out in mitigation said that Lorna Hewitt, Matthew’s mother, was “vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation” and was “easily suggestible”.
John Harrison, in mitigation for Ms Hewitt, said: “Given her emotional vulnerability, Mrs Hewitt’s capacity to consider the consequences of her actions and decisions is limited.”
Tana Adkin QC, representing Mr Hewitt, said there had been a “significant change” in his understanding of what he had done throughout the court proceedings.
She said: “He is devastated about what happened to Matthew. He is not a deliberately cruel man in the sense that the courts see and have seen in the past.
“He is not someone that would punish Matthew for his autism.”
But Judge Slater, in sentencing the pair, told Mr Hewitt, he said: “You were complicit equally with wife Lorna Hewitt in care effectively being switched off to any degree for Matthew as he was locked in his room and starved of food. “
“That did not occur by negligence, it did not occur by recklessness.
“It was a plan between the pair of you. I’m quite satisfied that nothing in that household occurred without either you knowing about it or approving of it.”
Addressing Ms Hewitt, he said: “It is argued on your behalf that you were particularly vulnerable and suggestible at the time.”
“I had the benefit of observing you give evidence in the trial over the course of several days.
“It did not seem to me that you were not capable of standing up for yourself or that you were particularly suggestible. You were both an articulate, temperate and thoughtful witness.”
