Dorset Police Conclude Investigation Into Three Deaths at Swanage Care Home

Dorset Police have said we have concluded our investigation into the deaths of three residents at a care home in Swanage following detailed enquiries and expert forensic analysis.

The investigation has concluded that two of the residents died of natural causes. The third death will be the subject of inquest proceedings overseen by HM Coroner, however, there is no indication of any third-party involvement or contribution of any environmental factors linked to the death.

Dorset Police received a report at 7.16am on Wednesday 23 October 2024 regarding the unexplained deaths of three residents at the Gainsborough Care Home in Ulwell Road.

The residents were two men aged 74 and 91 and an 86-year-old woman.

Due to the unusual circumstances involving three deaths occurring in close succession and no immediate confirmed cause of the deaths, a multi-agency response was instigated and an investigation was launched, led by detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT).

Information presented to police during the early stages of the incident indicated a possible link to the presence of carbon monoxide. Following this information, a 60-year-old local woman was arrested as part of the investigation in order to gather all available evidence and provide legal protection to the individual involved.

Within a short space of time, detectives were able to rule out a leak of carbon monoxide from the care home’s boiler or any other gas appliances. A thorough examination of the scene also ruled out any other apparent environmental factors that may have contributed to the deaths.

Once these enquiries had concluded, the arrested woman was immediately released from the investigation without charge.

Enquiries continued with detailed forensic pathology work carried out to ascertain the cause of the deaths. This included the submission of forensic samples for analysis, which had to be finalised before any conclusion could be confirmed – a process which took several months.

This analysis has now concluded that two of the residents – the 74-year-old man and the 86-year-old woman – died of natural causes.

While the findings indicated the cause of death for the 91-year-old man was believed to be unnatural, enquiries have not revealed any third-party involvement or contribution of environmental factors that require further police investigation. Officers will continue to assist HM Coroner during the inquest process.

All of the residents’ families have been fully updated.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Third, of MCIT, said: “Throughout our investigation we have continued to work closely with partner agencies and HM Coroner, and have kept them informed with updates from our findings.

“We were duty bound, and indeed the public would expect us, to fully investigate the circumstances of the deaths. All agencies worked closely together and the relevant experts were consulted.

“At the forefront of our minds have been the families of the three individuals involved, as we have conducted exhaustive enquiries into the full circumstances of the deaths of their loved ones. We have kept them fully updated and would like to thank them for the way they have conducted themselves over recent months as we carried out a range of complex enquiries.

“We also fully recognise the impact of these deaths and subsequent investigation had on the local community in Swanage and we want to thank residents of the town for the way they have rallied round to support those affected.

“I particularly want to thank residents of the care home and their families, who were displaced as we carried out enquiries at the scene to determine that there was no ongoing risk to the public.

“We have endeavoured to share information with the public wherever possible in relation to our ongoing investigations to be transparent and prevent speculation and misinformation. However, it was also important that we did not prejudice any potential findings until all outstanding enquiries had been fully resolved and expert evidence was received that enabled us to reach our conclusions.”