Home Office panel to review long-awaited report into the death of starved Leeds teenager

The confirmation of the hearing comes five years on from the day that 18-year-old Jordan Burling died as the result of malnutrition, immobility and infection-riddled sores.

Jordan Burling, 18, weighed less than six stones when paramedics found him covered in sores and lying in filthy conditions at his family home in Butterbowl Garth, Farnley, in June 2016.

His mother Dawn Cranston, 45, was sentenced to four years in prison and grandmother Denise Cranston, 70, was given three years after the pair were convicted of manslaughter after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

Jordan’s sister, Abigail Burling, 25, was cleared of manslaughter but handed an 18-month sentence for causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.

The review into Jordan's death was commissioned in 2017 by Leeds Safeguarding Adults Board, Leeds Safeguarding Children’s Partnership and the Safer Leeds Executive, but only announced to the public in 2018 after the court proceedings concluded.

Safer Leeds Executive chairman James Rogers said in October 2019 that they hoped to be in a position to release the final report later that year, yet it was not submitted to the Home Office for approval until February 11 of 2021 - more than a year later.

It is the first such review to be jointly commissioned by the three bodies with responsibility for safeguarding in Leeds.

A spokesperson from Leeds Council told the YEP: "The report was submitted to the Home Office on 11th February 2021.

"We are still awaiting a response from them, but they have indicated that it will be later this summer."

The Home Office told the Yorkshire Evening Post that a Domestic Homicide Review Quality Assurance Panel will hear the case in July.

Domestic Homicide Reviews examine the circumstances in which the death of person over the age of 16 has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a current or former intimate partner or family member.

Reviews are conducted locally by Community Safety Partnerships and draft reports submitted to the Home Office for review.

They can only be published once the review passes the quality assurance process.