A CARE company which admitted liability after an 18-year-old woman was fatally scalded from a hot bath in the city appeared in Oxford Crown Court today.

Lifeways Community Care Ltd admitted a charge brought by the Health and Safety Executive after Yelena Hasselberg-Langley, from Abingdon, died four days after she was lowered into a bath at a care home in Owens Way, Cowley, in 2007.

The court heard representations from both parties, but Judge Patrick Eccles decided he did not have time to consider his sentence and put the case back until Friday.

David Travers, prosecuting, said Lifeways had identified the dangers of hot water and had training procedures to educate staff on the issue, but that the carers who bathed Miss Hasselberg-Langley, who was severely disabled, had not been given such training.

He also said a thermometer, which should have been provided, was absent and one of the carers tested the water, but only with a gloved hand.

Of the dangers of scalding water, he added: “This is a well-known and well-recognised risk and has been for a long time.”

The bath used was supposed to be fitted with a temperature-regulating mixing tap, limiting the water to 44C, but this was never fully installed, the court heard.

Bernard Thorogood, defending, apologised on behalf of Lifeways and put forward mitigating factors including an early guilty plea, swift remedy of issues arising from the case, sincerity of regret, previous good record, cooperation with the HSE, and asserted the premises were handed over “in an unsafe condition”.