Hospital Trust Fined £500k After Patient’s Death

Alice Figueiredo's family had hoped lessons would be learned following the death of their 22-year-old daughter.

sarah

Nov 11, 2025 - 19:39

Hospital Trust Fined £500k After Patient’s Death

A hospital trust has been fined more than £500,000 and a ward manager given a six-month suspended sentence in connection with the death of a 22-year-old woman in a mental health unit.

Alice Figueiredo was being treated at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford when she took her own life using a bin bag from a communal toilet after several previous attempts.

The North East London Foundation NHS Trust (NELFT), which runs the hospital, and ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, 53, were convicted in June of health and safety offences after an Old Bailey jury found they had failed to do enough to prevent Ms Figueiredo's death.

NELFT was fined £565,000 and Aninakwa was also ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid community service.

The hospital had previously acknowledged the risks posed to patients by having bin bags in the ward and they were subsequently removed from patients' bedrooms.

However, despite warnings from Ms Figueiredo's family, they were not removed from the communal toilets, which were left unlocked.

The Old Bailey judge, the Honourable Judge Richard Marks KC, described Ms Figueiredo's death as a "terrible tragedy," and said there were serious failings in the care she received.

The judge told Aninakwa that addressing the risks posed by the bin bags should have been a priority.

During the trial, the prosecution also stated that incidents of Ms Figueiredo self-harming while in the hospital were not properly recorded or assessed – which the judge described as "appalling". Mr. Marks said: “While you are saddened by Alice’s death, you have no understanding of what you did wrong.

“I find it deeply disturbing that you are clearly still in a state of denial.”

Aninakwa, who still works for NELFT, is appealing against his sentence for failing to properly consider the health and safety of others through acts or omissions at work.

Giving a victim impact statement in court on Monday, Ms. Figueiredo’s mother, Jane Figueiredo, described her daughter as articulate, kind and funny.

Mrs. Figueiredo criticized the care given at Goodmayes Hospital, describing her daughter’s death as “preventable.” She also criticized the trust for not having offered the family a “formal apology” even ten years after the death.

“The joy, love, affection and laughter that Alice brought into my life has now been replaced by a silence, an emptiness. I have had to grapple with my despair at facing life without Alice. We all have.”

Ms. Figueiredo’s stepfather, Max Figueiredo, told the court that her battle with bipolar affective disorder “never stopped her from fully living life.”