AN angry mother is calling for a public inquiry into the death of her severely disabled son who died in a bath after being left alone by care workers.

Mrs Brenda Rowley of Whimbrel Road, Astley, is hoping to enlist the support of Worsley MP Terry Lewis. And she will also ask the Crown Prosecution Service to re-examine a decision not to prosecute anyone in relation to Malcolm's death.

She is also contacting her solicitor to consider taking a civil action.

A coroner's court found that 30-year-old Malcolm had died accidentally, but coroner Martin Coppel added that neglect had played a part in his death.

Malcolm was found dead in July 1998 in the bath of a Salford Council special bungalow in Eccles where he had lived for eight years with two other residents under 24-hour care.

Malcolm suffered epileptic fits, had the mental capacity of a four-month-old baby and couldn't walk or talk. He was left alone for at least five minutes before he drowned.

Mrs Rowley said: "Malcolm's death was a direct result of neglect. I was extremely distraught that it took all the skilful questioning of a barrister in a coroner's court to finally learn the details about the death of my son."

She said the inquest had thrown into doubt an independent inquiry by John Kealey, a former head of Cheshire social services. Mr Kealey admitted at the inquest he had not known Malcolm had had four epileptic fits in the month before his death.

He also retracted his report's conclusion that excessive soap bubbles in the bath had killed Malcolm.

Malcolm, a paraplegic, had slipped under the water while care assistant Sarah Peters went about other chores for the two other disabled men living with Malcolm.

The inquest heard all carers routinely left severely disabled people on their own for up to 20 minutes, only checking on them by "popping" their head around the door.

Care workers said they were following a Salford Council policy of "preserving the dignity and privacy" of their patients.

The council has now introduced a system whereby severely disabled people are supervised at all times in the bath.

Social services also said they had now checked procedures in all their homes, ensured risk assessments had been carried out, developed a training programme on health and safety matters, put in new guidance and instructions and were regularly checking to see these are followed.

Mrs Rowley's daughter Lisa (pictured with her mother), only a year younger than Malcolm, flew from her home in Cape Town, South Africa, to support and comfort her mother during the inquest and will now stay to help in her fight for justice.

THE family were struck with another tragedy the day the inquest began.

Mrs Rowley, whose husband, Fred, died of a heart attack, shortly after Malcolm's death, learned that her niece, mother-of-three Michelle Davenport-Jones, from Ince, had lost her battle against cancer aged just 28.

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