Man with cerebral palsy choked while at Colchester care home

Paul Spearing, 41, was non-verbal and needed round-the-clock care after he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby.

In a family tribute read to the jury by coroner Sonia Hayes, Mr Spearing was described as someone who “taught everyone around him lessons of unconditional love and resilience”.

It continued: “If he was in pain, he could not communicate this and we would have to work it out by observing him.

“He had no awareness of danger.

“Throughout his life, he had an awesomely wicked sense of humour – he was certainly a cheeky chappy.

“His inquisitive nature would see him poking people when they spoke, as if to understand what they were saying and how they were talking.

“He loved upbeat music and long drives in his adapted vehicle.”

It concluded: “Until now, we never knew how important he was to our world and how he was loved and adored.”

The inquest heard Mr Spearing attended a residential special school run by the Clacton Family Trust until he was 19 when he moved to a care home run by Essex Care Consortium in Maldon Road, Birch.

The jury of 12 was told specialists had phased out Mr Spearing’s psychotropic medication in the months before his death, resulting in an increase in incidents where he slapped himself and suffered from involuntary jerking movements.

In a report by Dr Alaa Martin, a clinical psychiatrist at the Essex Learning Disability Partnership, it was said the number of self-injuring episodes subsided and the medication had been fully discontinued by August 2023.

The choking incident which resulted in Mr Spearing’s death, which will be explored at the inquest on Wednesday, is believed to have caused a swelling of the brain which led to his death in November 2023.

A provisional cause of death offered by pathologist Dr Caroline Colville was given as cerebral herniation, cerebral oedema, choking, and cerebral palsy.

The inquest, which is expected to last several days, continues.