AN INQUEST into the deaths of residents at the centre of a care homes failings scandal dating back 18 years will be opened next week.

Seven deaths at the former Brithdir Nursing Home, recorded between 2003 and 2005, were part of extensive investigations and enquiries conducted by Gwent Police, which became known as Operation Jasmine.

The inquests into the deaths of Stanley James, June Hamer, William Hickman, Stanley Bradford, Edith Evans, Evelyn Jones and Matthew Higgins are due to begin at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport on Monday, January 18, before assistant coroner for the county of Gwent, Geraint Williams.

READ MORE:

The inquest will consider the nature of the care given to the deceased, the role played by the owners, managers and staff at the home and also the involvement of the local authority, the local health board and the (then) Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales in the management and running of the home.

Operation Jasmine was launched in 2005 after the death of an 84-year-old woman and investigated the deaths of 63 people in six care homes across South East Wales. In 2010, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to support a reasonable prospect of prosecution success for gross negligence, manslaughter or wilful neglect against the nursing home provider company bosses.

Brithdir Nursing Home, in New Tredegar, was owned and managed by a company called Puretruce Healthcare Ltd. The home was closed in 2006.

An independent report was commissioned by then-first minister Carwyn Jones into cases of neglect and abuse in south east Wales, led by Dr Margaret Flynn.

The report was published in 2015, and concluded: "Had the trial proceeded, [it] might have led to a conviction for crimes of fraud and breaches of health and safety."

The trial of Dr Prana Das, who ran the Brithdir Care Home, collapsed after he suffered a brain injury following a burglary at his home in 2012 and was declared unfit to stand trial.

Dr Das resigned from his role at Puretruce Healthcare Ltd in April 2013, according to Companies House.

Dr Das died in January 2020.

The inquest is scheduled to last for eight weeks.