Coroner warns of 'cover-up culture' at care home where neglect contributed to 12-year-old's death

A coroner has warned of a "culture of cover-up" at a care home where neglect contributed to the death of a disabled 12-year-old girl.

Raihana Awolaja, who required 24-hour one-to-one care, died of cardiac arrest in 2023 after her breathing tube became clogged while she was left alone at Tadworth Court in Surrey, a residential care facility operated by The Children’s Trust. 

Now a senior coroner looking into her death, Professor Fiona Wilcox, has written to the Trust's chief executive, warning there could be further deaths at the home if improvements aren't made.

Prof Wilcox raised several serious concerns about the home, including that severely disabled children may not be receiving the level of care needed to keep them safe and more staff training was required.

She also warned there "may be culture of cover up at Tadworth Children’s Trust".

She added: "They carried out a flawed investigation after this incident, pushing blame onto an innocent individual and thereby avoiding highlighting systemic failures and learning and thus risking lessons that should be learned are lost that could prevent future deaths."

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Source: ITV News, 21 May 2025