Two nurses who “left an epileptic patient to die” at a Walsall care home have been allowed to walk free after being given suspended jail sentences today.

Deputy matron Harjinder Kaur Mangat and nurse Bernadette Gerard did nothing to help 36-year-old Eileen Murphy, despite pleas from other nurses working at Richard House, in Aldridge. 

Mangat, aged 58, of Kingswood Drive, Sutton Coldfield, received a suspended sentence of four months after being found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, which she had denied.

Gerard, 44, of Florence Street, Hednesford, had already pleaded guilty to the same charge and was given a six-month suspended sentence.

Mr Justice Stadlen, presiding at Stafford Crown Court, adjourned the case temporarily after Miss Murphy’s sister Christine Porter broke down in tears after the sentences. Speaking to the Express & Star after the case, Mrs Porter said she believed the pair should have faced time behind bars.

“Although I’m pleased they have both been brought to account for what they did, I still think they should have both gone to prison,” she said.

In sentencing, Mr Justice Stadlen told the pair their careers in nursing were over.

“This was a case of gross negligence, which caused the death of Miss Murphy,” he said. 

“If action had been taken to give Miss Murphy drugs, or if an ambulance had been called, she would have lived. 

“She was in your care and you let her down.”

He added that both nurses had shown “genuine remorse”.

Miss Murphy suffered an epileptic fit for two-and-a-half hours before she died in March 2003.