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Care home and lakes trust charged with corporate manslaughter over 2022 Roadford Lake boat deaths

Burdon Grange Care Home and South West Lakes Trust have been charged with corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences after a Wheelyboat capsized at Roadford Lake, Devon, in June 2022, killing two wheelchair users. The first hearing is set for 11 November.

2 outlets · 1L · 0C · 1R First reported Account updated
Image: Daily Mirror
Image: Daily Express

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Devon and Cornwall Police said on Tuesday 6 October 2026 that Burdon Grange Care Home and South West Lakes Trust, based in Bude, have each been charged by postal requisition with corporate manslaughter and an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Mixed · 2The care home is charged under Section 2 of the Act over an alleged failure to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees; the Trust is charged under Section 3 over an alleged failure to ensure that people not in its employment were not exposed to risks to their health or safety. Mixed · 2The charges relate to 8 June 2022, when a Wheelyboat, a recreational craft modified for wheelchair users, capsized at Roadford Lake near Okehampton while carrying a day-trip group from Burdon Grange Care Home in Beaworthy.

Mixed · 2Six people were thrown into the water. Wheelchair users Alex Wood, 43, and Alison 'Ali' Tilsley, 63, both from West Devon, died, and a woman in her 50s was seriously injured. Mixed · 2A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said the victims were strapped into their motorised wheelchairs and were 'dragged to the bottom of the lake and drowned'. Mixed · 2The MAIB found the boat had not been correctly maintained: seals on a ramp were not regularly inspected and had degraded, letting water leak in and making the boat unstable. It said Roadford Lake Activity Centre, which hired the vessel to the care home, had not fully identified the risks or understood the 'unique needs' of operating it.

Mixed · 2The first court hearing will be at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 11 November. The charges follow what police described as a lengthy and complex investigation led by Devon and Cornwall Police with the Health and Safety Executive and the MAIB. Right · 1Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime Division, said prosecutors had established sufficient evidence and that a prosecution was in the public interest, adding that thoughts remained with the families of Ms Tilsley and Mr Wood. Left · 1At the opening of the inquest, Ms Tilsley's family described her as a kind, caring and loving daughter, sister and auntie, saying: 'Our hearts are broken forever'.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Daily Mirror reports the charges as a factual police-update story, including the family's tribute to Ms Tilsley.
Emphasis
Victims' human side, the MAIB findings and the family tribute.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not include the CPS statement carried by the Express.
Charged language
“tragedy”
For example
“We are totally devastated by the loss of our beautiful Ali.” — Daily Mirror

Centre0 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right1 outlet

Framing
Daily Express carries near-identical copy but adds the CPS statement and frames the day out as one that 'should have been a fun day out' ending in tragedy.
Emphasis
Time elapsed since the incident, the prosecution's stated basis, and the human contrast.
Leaves out or plays down
Omits the family's tribute to Ms Tilsley.
Charged language
“tragically”“fun day out”
For example
“What should have been a fun day out for Burdon Grange Care Home residents eneded in tragedy on June 8 2022.” — Daily Express
“Our thoughts remain with the families of Alison Tilsley and Alex Wood at this time.” — Daily Express