David was the middle of three children, and after his parents divorced, continued to live with his father, Peter. He really enjoyed spending time with his mother, sister, brother and wider family members. David lived at home in Hull his entire life.

David had a learning disability and could not communicate verbally. He initially used Makaton at his mainstream primary school where his sister, Keri, says everyone went out of their way to learn to communicate with him and include him. Later in life he used an electronic communication aid.

David loved to go swimming or to the cinema if a film interested him. He also loved to shop for DVDs. David was an expert on children’s television, with an extensive collection of DVDs which brought him great joy. He was very knowledgeable about children’s television programmes, enjoyed watching his DVDs and searching for episodes of his favourite programmes on YouTube, on an iPad.

David’s eyesight deteriorated and he was registered blind in adulthood. After that David was diagnosed with autism. In 2017 David had dental treatment under sedation that led to aspiration pneumonia and resulted in a lengthy stay in Intensive Care. After months on a ventilator, David lost the ability to stand or walk and became a wheelchair user.

In early January 2022, David’s sister found him on the floor of his home, lying next to their father Peter who had died unexpectedly up to 4 days before. She accompanied David to Hull Royal Infirmary, where multiple missed opportunities to provide David with care contributed to his death. The coroner found David died from bilateral pneumonia due to metabolic acidosis and hypovolaemia, caused by dehydration. HIs death was contributed to by neglect.