Photographs of a teenager who died at home were “hauntingly reminiscent of starving victims in the extermination camps of the second world war”, according to a judge who jailed his mother, grandmother and sister.

Jordan Burling, 18, was left to “rot to death” on an airbed at his home in Leeds, a jury was told.

His mother, shop worker Dawn Cranston, 45, was jailed for four years at Leeds crown court on Thursday, along with his grandmother, Denise Cranston, 70, who was given a three-year sentence.

Both women were found guilty of manslaughter earlier this week by a jury that was told how the teenager was found in a soiled nappy, weighing 5st 11lbs (38kg) and covered in pressure sores so deep his bones were exposed.

Police searching the house in the Farsley area of Leeds found the decomposed body of a baby, which Dawn Cranston hid in a rucksack for about 14 years after she gave birth in secret.

The case was deemed to be so serious that a full, independent safeguarding review is under way into what contact agencies had with Burling before his death, after a jury heard he was “invisible to the authorities”.

Speaking outside Leeds crown court, James Rogers, chairman of the Safer Leeds executive, said the review would “examine any lessons that need to be learned to try and ensure this could not happen again in the future”.



The jury heard how the family had minimal contact with council and other agencies and that Burling had not attended school since he was 12 after his mother announced he was to be home-schooled. He never took any exams or achieved any qualifications and was rarely seen outside the house.



Sentencing the women, the judge, Mr Justice Spencer, noted that while chaotic, the family were not deprived of material belongings. “It is important to emphasise that this was not a deprived household in material terms, nor were any of you inadequate to the point that you were unable to live a reasonably normal life outside the home,” he said.

“Although the house was full of clutter, you all had mobile phones, laptop or tablet computers and a great deal of other equipment. The house was well-stocked with food. There were three refrigerators or freezers.”

He told the women: “It is profoundly disturbing and almost beyond belief that Jordan Burling, a young man of 18, should have been allowed to die in his own home here in Leeds in 2016, in the bosom of his family, through the failure of all three of you to take the elementary, humane step of summoning medical assistance for him when it was obvious that for many days, if not weeks, he was quite literally at death’s door.”

The judge said the teenager would “undoubtedly” have been saved with proper medical care. Instead, he was condemned to a lingering death “lying for three months on an airbed and mattress in the living room of the family home, emaciated, immobile and doubly incontinent”.

He told the women that photographs of the boy’s final state were too horrific to be published.



The teenager’s sister, Abigail Burling, 25, was jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable person.

His father, Steven Burling, said in a statement: “We feel betrayed by the people we trusted to care for Jordan. Steven and the family will always remember Jordan having a bubbly and chatty personality. We have had two years of hell coming to terms with Jordan’s death and we would like to thank the police and everyone involved who has helped to support us through this dreadful time.”