CARERS who allowed a teenage girl to be scalded to death in a hot bath last night faced a massive fine after magistrates ruled they should be punished by a judge.

The company running the care home in Owens Way, Cowley, Oxford, where disabled Yelena Hasselberg-Langley, pictured right, received her fatal injuries, admitted health and safety blunders.

Oxford magistrates said they could only fine the firm up to a maximum of £20,000 pounds – and instead agreed to send the case to crown court for sentencing.

Lifeways Community Care acknowledged it had made errors which led to the horrific death of the 18-year-old, and, through a solicitor, did not object to the prosecution’s application to send the matter to crown court.

Yelena died of multiple organ failure in a specialist burns unit four days after she was placed in water which was up to 66 degrees centigrade – 22 degrees hotter than it should have been, in 2007.

Lifeways, based at Garratt Lane, Wandsworth, South London, will be sentenced in November by a judge at Oxford Crown Court – who will have unlimited powers in deciding the appropriate financial penalty.

Hayley Saunders, solicitor for the firm, yesterday entered a plea of guilty to contravening Health and Safety regulations.