A man has been found guilty of murder after the man he assaulted died from an epileptic seizure 15 years after the attack.
Jordan Burton, 33, was aged 14 when he and a group of others, attacked Daniel Allright, who was aged 16 at the time, hitting him over the head with a plank of wood.
Following the attack, Daniel had reported to the police that the group of males had tried to rob him and his friends. The attackers had run off when someone came out of a nearby shop and told them to stop.
Daniel suffered bleeding in the brain because of the attack and had to have a craniotomy. He developed epilepsy six months after the assault and was prescribed epilepsy medication, but his seizures had worsened ahead of his death.
Daniel died in the bath at his home in March 2022, at the age of 31, as a result of a seizure from post-traumatic epilepsy.
Reports say Jordan Burton initially denied his involvement but later pleaded guilty to violent disorder and unlawful wounding in 2008.
He was charged with murder in October last year and was found guilty on Tuesday this week at the Old Bailey. He will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Post-traumatic epilepsy
Post-traumatic epilepsy can result from a traumatic brain injury. If a person starts having seizures a week or more after traumatic brain injury, this could be post-traumatic epilepsy, which can be confirmed with EEG and neuroimaging.
People can experience seizures straight away, within a week of traumatic brain injury, which are called post-traumatic seizures. These are considered provoked by the injury and are not the same as post-traumatic epilepsy.
Some factors that could predict post-traumatic epilepsy include bleeding in the brain, a higher severity of traumatic brain injury and early appearance of post-traumatic seizures.
Epilepsy-related deaths
Many people can live well with their epilepsy. But there are certain risks to manage when living with the condition to help minimise the risk of epilepsy-related death.
Seizures can cause death in some circumstances. People can die from prolonged seizures or injuries or drowning following a seizure. These risk levels will be different for different people.
Managing these risks could mean having showers instead of baths, adapting your home to reduce the risk of injuries or having somebody with you when you do activities. Epilepsy Action has more information on how to stay safe with epilepsy.
In some cases, people can die from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). This is when there is no clear reason why a person with epilepsy has died.
There are certain risk factors linked with SUDEP, including uncontrolled tonic-clonic seizures, sleep seizures and not taking epilepsy medications as prescribed.
To help reduce these risks, Epilepsy Action advises:
- Take your epilepsy medication exactly as prescribed, and speak to your doctor if you have any problems with your medications.
- Find out in advance what to do if you accidentally miss a dose.
- Try to avoid situations which could trigger your seizures where you can. This could mean not missing meals, reducing stress or avoiding alcohol.
- If your seizures are not controlled, ask to be referred to a specialist and for your epilepsy and medications to be reviewed.
- Keep a diary of your seizures so you can track any patterns.
There is more information on causes of epilepsy, safety and epilepsy-related deaths on the Epilepsy Action website.
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