On November 11, 2025, the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) was handed a £565,000 fine, along with £200,000 in court costs, after being found guilty of health and safety breaches that led to the tragic death of 22-year-old Alice Figueiredo at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford. The sentencing, delivered at the Old Bailey, marked the culmination of a decade-long fight for justice by Alice’s family and a complex police investigation that exposed critical failings in patient care and safety management on the hospital’s Hepworth Ward.
Alice Figueiredo, a former head girl described as a "beautiful vibrant young woman" by Judge Richard Marks KC, died by suicide on July 7, 2015, after accessing plastic bin bags from a communal, unlocked toilet on the ward. This was not the first time Alice had self-harmed using similar materials—records showed she had made at least 18 previous attempts, with at least 10 involving plastic items from the same toilets. Despite repeated warnings and pleas from her family, the risks remained unaddressed by the trust and staff.
Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, 53, of Grays in Essex, was also convicted of failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of patients. He received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid community service. Judge Marks, in his televised sentencing remarks, told Aninakwa, "You knew that she was suicidal – she was the only patient on the ward that was. Your negligent breach of duty went on for weeks." The judge added, "I find the fact you clearly remain in a state of denial very troubling." According to the BBC, Aninakwa still works at NELFT and has indicated plans to appeal his conviction.
The court heard that both NELFT and Aninakwa had failed in their duty of care to Alice. Not only did Aninakwa neglect to remove dangerous items from communal areas, but he also failed to ensure proper observation of patients and to adequately record incidents of self-harm. In fact, only 13 incidents were formally documented out of a possible 81, and just three mentioned the specific items used. This lack of proper documentation and risk management proved fatal. Judge Marks noted, "There was a complete failure to adequately assess and manage the risk that this posed." He emphasized that simply locking the communal toilets while Alice was on the ward would have been a minor inconvenience compared to the risk it posed.
Alice’s mother, Jane Figueiredo, herself a former hospital chaplain, was a persistent advocate for her daughter’s safety. In a moving victim impact statement, she told the court, "Such attitudes go against everything patient care stands for in our NHS." She described how her family was treated with "dismissive contempt, belittling and playing down" their "well-founded" concerns in 2015. Jane characterized her daughter as a "uniquely beautiful, brave, affectionate, generous, kind, colourful, creative and luminous spirit," and spoke of the "immeasurable" impact Alice’s "untimely, preventable death" has had on their lives. She added, "Our pain and suffering were also magnified in countless ways by the trust's course of conduct after Alice died and the disingenuous ways they behaved towards us."
The Met Police launched their investigation nine months after Alice’s death, reviewing more than 2,600 medical documents and gathering dozens of witness statements from staff, family, and friends. They also obtained expert opinions from nursing staff, psychiatric practitioners, and healthcare regulators. The investigation, which began in 2016, eventually led to charges being authorized in September 2023 against both the trust and Aninakwa for corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences. In June 2025, both were acquitted of manslaughter but found guilty of health and safety breaches. The lengthy proceedings included the joint-longest jury deliberation in English legal history, as reported by Sky News.
Alice had first been admitted to the Hepworth Ward in May 2012 with a diagnosis that included a non-specific eating disorder and bipolar affective disorder. During her years on the ward, the trust consistently failed to remove plastic items from communal toilets or keep them locked, despite Alice’s repeated suicide attempts involving those materials. The BBC noted that while bin bags were eventually removed from patient bedrooms, they remained accessible in the communal toilets, a decision that proved catastrophic. Judge Marks was unequivocal in his assessment: "Keeping the communal area temporarily locked while Alice was on the ward would not have posed a problem beyond one of inconvenience."
The failures in care extended beyond simple oversight. Jane Figueiredo told the court, "What she did not like on your watch in 2015, Mr Aninakwa, was being treated by some staff with unkindness, harshness, indifference, ignorance, even at times cruelty or being endangered and left at risk by neglectful and incompetent staff some of whom seemed to be clueless about their duties and responsibilities, a fact you were often in denial of." Her family’s calls for help, she said, were "regularly shut down, silenced, and her life was eventually extinguished." Speaking outside the Old Bailey, Jane called for urgent change, saying her daughter had been confined to a "death trap" that was "a fatality waiting to happen." She demanded that the voices of mental health inpatients—"some of the least seen and heard people in our communities and society"—must no longer be dismissed or silenced.
Paul Calaminus, chief executive of NELFT, told the BBC that he had written to the Figueiredo family to arrange a personal apology, stating the trust was "deeply sorry, both for Alice's untimely death and for everything that her family and friends have had to endure over the last decade." He also acknowledged that the fine could impact services, given the trust’s "absolutely parlous state" of finances as noted by Judge Marks.
The case has sparked broader calls for accountability and change within the NHS. Nina Ali, a partner at Hodge Jones and Allen representing more than 120 families at the ongoing Lampard Inquiry into mental health inpatient deaths in Essex, told NationalWorld, "What happened to Alice is indefensible. Today’s sentence offers no deterrent to the healthcare professionals and trusts who repeatedly fail vulnerable patients in their care." She argued that only custodial sentences for those responsible for preventable deaths would force trusts to take meaningful action.
The Figueiredo family’s ordeal is far from over. Jane has been excluded from the Lampard Inquiry due to geographical rulings, but her legal team is appealing for her to be granted core participant status. As the debate around mental health care and patient safety continues, the story of Alice Figueiredo stands as a sobering reminder of the consequences of systemic neglect—and the urgent need for reform.
For those affected by the issues raised in this story, support is available. In the UK, Samaritans can be reached at 116 123 or by email at [email protected].
