A former care home boss today walked free from court after admitting endangering elderly residents' lives by ordering them to drink excessive amounts.

A major police investigation was launched after Eunice Fifield, 62, and 95-year-old Winifred Armstrong, died at the Carnarvon Lodge Residential Care Home in Clacton in 1999.

On Friday at Chelmsford Crown Court Angela Postill, 43, of Hawkendon Road, Clacton, was given a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years, after admitting engangering the life or health of the two women by wilful neglect.

The judge ordered charges of manslaughter of both women - which Postill had denied - to be laid on file.

The court heard residents at the home in Carnarvon Road were given so much fluid their hands and legs became distended.

Care workers were told to give pensioners Oxo, as it was salty and would make them drink even more.

Prosecutor Stephen Cowhard QC, described Postill's use of fluids in the home as "an obsession".

Mr Cowhard said worker Maria Clover was told by Postill they could not let residents dehydrate and that they look so much better when given more fluids."

But Mrs Clover had seen a number of residents in a bloated condition with hands and legs distended. She resigned over her concerns.

Peter Feinberg, mitigating for Postill, said: "She has the most overwhelming remorse for any resident who died and for the families of residents. Postill was obsessed with an obsession borne of a desire to care.

"She knew that fluids were a vital part of the care for the elderly. Postill, as compared to what she was before, is a wreck, but she believed firmly that what she was doing was right."

Postill left court in tears and was driven away without speaking to journalists.

Her solicitor Steve Sharp said it had been a "terrible ordeal".

"My client has lost everything as a result of this case and her health has deteriorated considerably. Her life's savings were invested in the home and her reputation is totally in tatters," he said.

"She regrets what happened. It is now her intention to put this behind her."

Freed - Angela Postill

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